Hero Caribbean Premier League 2017
‒ 4 wicket win keeps Warriors alive
By Akeem Greene
Chadwick Walton’s 57-ball 92 led Guyana Amazon Warriors to an emphatic 4-wicket victory over the Barbados Tridents in Match 19 of the 2017 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL), played on Sunday evening at the National Stadium at Providence.
Dwayne Smith was at his ominous best (CPL photo)Captain Martin Guptill played the shepherd innings (CPL photo)
Walton’s scintillating hitting brought the capacity crowd of flag-waivers to their feet as he ensured that the three-time finalists retain a shot at making the play-offs.
The opening batsman’s innings, laced with seven fours and six maximums, upstaged Dwayne Smith’s 69-ball even century, and helped Warriors gun down 160 in 19.1 overs — the CPL’s highest successful run chase at Providence.
Knowing the importance of the Warriors getting a victory, Walton began his innings like a man on a mission, crisply hitting boundaries at will.
Sohail Tanveer, promoted up the batting order, scored an ‘A’ grade in his pinch-hitting role by making 16 runs from nine balls, to help the Warriors to 48 for 1 in just 4.1 overs.
Tanveer’s dismissal did not put any brakes on Walton, whose power hitting prowess was on full display, as he continued to dismiss the pacy Ravi Rampaul and Wayne Parnell to the ropes.
The spinners faced the same fate, with Damion Jacobs’ delivery in the 10th flying over the mid-wicket boundary and nearly putting one of the cheerleaders in hospital.
Gajanand Singh made a second-ball duck; and Captain Martin Guptill, who entered with the score on 64 for 1 in the sixth over, was content to play second fiddle to Walton, picking the gaps and having a front row seat to the Walton spectacle.
What has to be the shot of the night came in the 15th over, when the Jamaican punched a good length ball over the rope for six, to carry him into the nineties.
The attacking 81-run partnership of these two gladiators was broken when Keiron Pollard got Guptill to drag one to long-on, and the next ball Walton left what looked to be a certain century on the table when he skied one to long-on.
Tridents had hoped for a twist in the tale when Pollard, with his golden arm, dismissed Jason Mohammed and Keemo Paul in the 19th over, leaving Warriors with five runs to get in the final over.
A stunning upset was recorded, as Assad Fudadin smashed the first ball bowled by Shemar Springer over long-on for four, and there followed a wide, to seal the hard fought victory.
Opting to bowl first on the same pitch as Saturday’s match, Warriors looked to be keeping it tight; until Dwayne Smith went into overdrive, taking 13 off the third over, in which he played an imperious pull shot that looked like a tracer bullet shot to the ropes.
Though there was a spark in the scoring, the power play overs gathered 27 runs. Realising that they had a full complement of wickets intact, the duo of Smith and Kane Williamson began taking more chances.
Strangely, off-spinner Steven Jacobs continued to be given the middle over duties, and the powerful Smith took a likeness to him, smashing him for a towering six in a place next to the Orange Stand.
Williamson, known for his classical stroke play, began to hit his stride, foxing down the pitch to loft Veerasammy Permaul over long-off for six; and the Tridents had 61 on the board at the halfway stage.
Keemo Paul’s introduction in the 13th over was greeted with a cut-shot laced with surgical precision.
Paul immediately went from hero to villain when he had Smith caught at long-off on 42, but it was ruled a no-ball. It was a chance the Warriors would later regret.
The innings was lacking urgency, and Smith began to free his hands in the 15th over, in which Rayad Emrit leaked 15 runs. The robust right-hander muscled Emrit over long-on to bring up his half-century from 52 balls. His next 17 balls contained imperious hitting that saw him add 45 runs to his total.
Warriors’ sloppy fielding continued when Permaul fluffed another chance at long-off off the bowling of Rashid Khan. Adding insult to injury, Williamson dispatched Khan for a six in the same region with the next ball.
The leg-spinner eventually got his man in the eventful 16th over, as Permaul redeemed himself by taking the next chance, and Williamson went after hitting three fours and two sixes.
Smith goes in overdrive
The 18th over proved the energizer bunny in the Tridents’ innings, with Smith belting Tanveer for 19 in consecutive scores of one, four, six, four, four. The six was as straight as it could get over the bowler’s head.
Emrit soon faced his share of the wrath of Smith’s willow when Smith scored 19 runs in the 19th over. The former West Indies batsman reached his fourth twenty20 century with a double down to extra-cover, but was out next ball when he sliced straight to the hands of third man.
He nevertheless received a standing ovation from the audience for his sublime knock, which included ten fours and five towering sixes.
Tanveer was on hat-trick after he bowled an adventurous Nicholas Pooran, but Tion Webster quelled any late innings’ collapse by squeezing out a Yorker for two.
Warriors will play their final home match on Tuesday, while the Tridents move on to Jamaica to play the Tallawahs on Friday.
