Red Steel battle for spot in CPL Final

Bravo’s men are second on 11 points with a net run-rate (NRR) of 0.073 while Barbados Tridents lead the standings with 12 points at a NRR of 0.182.

Amazon Warriors are third with nine points at a NRR of 0.520 and are hoping to scrape into second place to avoid playing two semi-finals. Jamaica Tallawahs finished fourth and will oppose third-place in the first semi-final (July 23) with the winner facing second-place (July 25) for a spot against the group stage winner a day later.

Following a hat-trick of home triumphs which saw Red Steel rise from cellar position, Bravo said: “We’ve got one more game to go.

If we win that game, we’re going straight into the final. The most important thing is that we actually wanted to qualify for the semis. You know, we came home and wanted to win three out of four games. After losing the first one (against Zouks), it was a big turnaround for the guys and I’m very happy.”

His team registered subsequent wins against Tridents, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and Tallawahs to ascend the table with both Bravo brothers leading the charge.

On their turnaround, he continued: “We were only at the bottom because we played less games so we never looked at the points table...We knew once we hit Trinidad and gained momentum, it would be very difficult to stop us.

I’ve got to give credit to the guys, they could have easily had their confidence dampened as a group.”

He credited their energy to the “Oval crowd being the 12th man” which helped them cope with the pressures of the points table. The all-rounder savoured Sunday’s nervy seven-run win against Tallawahs and taking their captain Chris Gayle’s wicket. Gayle began their 145-run chase with 26 off Samuel Badree’s opener but Bravo revealed they weren’t fazed. “I said to the guys, if you look at Jamaica’s history, whenever Chris gets out early, they crumble.” He added that the team was excited at the prospect of playing on the Guyana wicket as he felt it could come down to a spin clash. Bravo remained wary of Amazon Warriors’ spin trio - Sunil Narine, Devendra Bishoo and Veerasammy Permaul - but is confident of countering with his own arsenal - Sulieman Benn, Badree, Derone Davis and Johan Botha.