Andre Russell wreaked havoc over the St.Lucia Kings’ bowlers on Friday as he recorded the fastest ever Caribbean Premier League (CPL) fifty off 14 balls in the third game of CPL 2021 while batting for Jamaica Tallawahs. JP Duminy held the record previously in the CPL when he took 15 balls to reach fifty for Barbados Tridents against Trinbago Knight Riders in 2019.
At the start of the 19th over, Andre Russell had faced just one ball for a single. Then the marauder of the cricket ball unleashed himself mercilessly in St Kitts. Over the next two overs – which included 3 no-balls – he would smash 49 runs, reaching the landmark on the last ball of the innings, with a boundary as the ball just evaded the hand of the fielder in the deep.
His monstrous knock comprised 6 sixes and 3 fours, and a strike rate of 357.14, helping his side post a mammoth total of 255 runs – the second-highest total ever scored in the CPL. Left-arm pacer Wahab Riaz, who conceded 32 runs in the 19th over, ended up leaking 61 runs in 3 overs – the fourth-most expensive three-over spell in T20 history. The 20th over, bowled by Obed McCoy, cost 22 runs.
