The Gladiators, champions of the last two editions of the tournament, posted 118-8 from their ten overs after being put in to bat by the Strikers.
Englishman Tom Kohler-Cadmore led the way for the Gladiators with 68 off 33 balls including four fours and six sixes while Andre Russell hit 17 off nine balls in support. Captain Nicholas Pooran (1), Andre Fletcher (2) and Fabian Allen (0) all failed to make significant contributions with the bat.
Sri Lankan Chamika Karunaratne took 3-25 from his two overs.
The Strikers were then reduced to 96-6 from their ten overs in reply.
Muhammad Waseem (26) and Asif Ali (24) were the main scorers for New York as Zahoor Khan bowled beautifully to finish with 2-12 from his two overs.
According to a statement from the CPL on Friday, during the Tallawahs’ match against the Guyana Amazon Warriors on August 25 at Queen’s Park Oval, Ali swung his bat in the direction of opposition bowler Keemo Paul when he was dismissed in the eighth over of his team’s batting innings.
He was charged with being in breach of section 2.18 of the Code of Conduct, acting contrary to the spirit of the game. Ali admitted the offence, CPL said.
The Jamaica Tallawahs are fifth in the six-team standings having won only two of their five matches to date.
Big scores had gone down as the tournament wore on, but Gladiators' 91 for 5 after being sent in appeared insufficient for the big occasion. It proved to be exactly that, despite Strikers being 7 for 2 in 1.1 overs, with openers Muhammad Waseem and Rahmanullah Gurbaz dismissed cheaply.
Niroshan Dickwella and Asif Ali, the Player of the Match, put the innings back on track, before Dickwella was sent back by Andre Russell for a 12-ball 14. From there on, it was all about Asif and captain Kieron Pollard, who put up 56 runs together without much scoreboard pressure to weigh them down.
Asif scored 48 not out in 25 balls with two fours and four sixes, and Pollard chipped in with 22 not out in 13, with a four and six, as Strikers won the title.
The win was set up by the bowlers, though. Gladiators had a decent opening stand of 28 with Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Nicholas Pooran, the No. 1 and No. 3 on the tournament run-scorers' list, but Narine broke through in the third over with Kohler-Cadmore's wicket for a seven-ball 13. Pooran fell to George Scrimshaw two balls later, and Gladiators were suddenly 28 for 2, which became 36 for 3, 41 for 4, and 57 for 5 after 7.1 overs, with Narine returning 2 for 6 from his two overs without conceding a single boundary.
Russell, who finished with an unbeaten 30 from 18 balls with two fours and two sixes, and David Wiese, 20 not out from 11, with a four and two sixes, completed the innings with some momentum, but it was too few for Gladiators to defend on the night.
