The Guyana Amazon Warriors continued their unbeaten run in the 2016 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) when they handed the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots their fourth defeat in five matches, with a four-wicket thumping on Saturday at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
Martin Guptill and Chris Lynn added 60 for the second wicket which drove the Warriors to victory (Marceano Narine Photo)
Set a paltry 108 to win, the home side reached the target with 22 balls to spare, romping to their fourth straight win on the trot from as many matches.
When the run chase began, Dwayne Smith (05) fell victim to a simple caught and bowled by spinner Jon-Jon Smutts’ first over, the second of the innings. It was Captain Martin Guptill who added to the steaming heat with a scintillating innings, as it seemed a completely different pitch when he was on strike, smashing the spinners for some towering maximums. The Warriors raced to 60 for 1 at the end of the Power Play, mainly due to Guptill’s brilliance of four sixes and three fours in his 22-ball 43.
When Guptill top-edged to mid-wicket two balls after the power play, Chris Lynn played another anchoring innings of 34 (4×2; 1×6) from 37 balls to push the team close to their second consecutive victory at home. Guptill and Lynn put on 60 runs in a match winning partnership for the second wicket.
The middle-order looked a bit feeble once more with Jason Mohammed (04), Christopher Barnwell (00), Anthony Bramble (01) falling in the space of two overs, giving the Patriots a sniff of a chance but the experienced Sohail Tanvir along with Steven Jacobs eased the team over the line in hot conditions in front of thousands of screaming fans. The Patriots spinners; Smutts, Shamsi and Badree all threatened but the batters just didn’t put enough on the tins to create an upset.
Earlier, Patriots won the toss but suffered a slow start due to some tight bowling by the Warriors. Evin Lewis was the first to go when he attempted a pulled but the ball kept low, striking him plumb on the pads.
Thisara Perera was given a promotion to up the scoring rate but failed to give the innings the momentum after edging behind a back of a length delivery from Rayad Emrit at 19/2 at the end of 5. The Patriots then ended the Power Play at 24-2 and in desperate need of a partnership.
Captain Faf du Plessis struggled with one from seven balls, after which he top-edged a long-hop from leg-spinner Adam Zampa to be taken at short third-man; with his team only reaching 37-3 at the half way stage after some extremely tight bowling by off-spinner Jacobs and seamer Tanvir.
Wickets continue to tumble and next to go was Jonathan Carter who hoisted left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul down the throat of Guptill at long-off. Devon Thomas then fell to another stupendous catch by Mohammed in the outfield, soon afterwards Jon-Jon Smutts played around a delivery from Zampa and was bowled first ball.
Opener Lendl Simmons found it extremely difficult to find a stable partner, to prop his team to a respectable total. However, Simmons used his knowledge of the slow Providence pitch to graft an innings worth 50 (2x4s; 1×6) from 60 balls before falling victim to superb direct hit by Guptill in the outfield.
Shamarh Brooks’s 9-ball 19 (1×4; 1×6) attempted to up the tempo of the match but the lower-order could not loosen the shackles by the Warriors’ bowlers.
Zampa led with the ball taking 3-18 while Jacobs’ miserly spell saw him end with figures of 1-7 from four overs while Permaul, Emrit and Tanvir also picked up one wicket each.
Tonight the Warriors will face defending Champions Trinbago Knight Riders from 19:00 h. ([email protected])
