Watch: Andre Russell smashed the fastest fifty in the history of the Caribbean Premier League, taking just 14 balls to reach the 50-run mark for Jamaica Tallawahs against Saint Lucia Kings in CPL 2021.

Russell walked in at No.5 with the Tallawahs already set for a huge total, having reached 199-2 after 17 overs. Off the first two balls of the 18th over, Obed McCoy took consecutive wickets, leaving the new batsman Russell to face the hat-trick ball. McCoy claimed one more wicket in the over that cost just two runs.

Off the next over, Russell switched to six-hitting mode, smashing four sixes (and one four off a no ball) in one over from Wahab Riaz to propel the Tallawahs to a mammoth score. The Wahab over, the 19th of the innings, cost the Kings 32 runs, before Russell went on to hand out similar treatment to McCoy in the final over.

McCoy saw his figures heavily disrupted when Russell took him on in the 20th over, with the all-rounder hitting two sixes and as many fours. In all, he scored 49 runs off the last two overs, taking Tallawahs to 255-5, the second-highest total in CPL history.

On the way, he broke JP Duminy’s record for the fastest CPL fifty from two years ago, beating the South African’s 15-ball effort by one delivery. In response, the Kings stumbled to 135 all out, suffering a 120-run loss. Russell earned the Player of the Match award, having also picked up a wicket in his three-over spell. It was Russell’s 25th fifty in the T20 format, with his career strike-rate after 370 matches standing at 170.37.

Watch Russell’s blistering knock here:

AMAZING! A 14 ball fifty sees @Russell12A win the @Dream11 MVP for match three. #CPL21 #CricketPlayedLouder #JTvSLK #Dream11 pic.twitter.com/O7eOev4hhY

— CPL T20 (@CPL) August 27, 2021