ExxonMobil GSL… Magical Motie, gutsy Gurbaz spur GAW to 3rd consecutive win

Earlier in the afternoon, the San Francisco Unicorns had a decent start, with 42 runs in their first six overs before the unthinkable happened – a collapse. They were reduced to 47-4.
Less than six hours later, the script was the same. The Guyana Amazon Warriors, racing out the blocks after being sent in to bat first, were suddenly bridled by the Lahore Qalandars, erasing a 200+ projected score and instead replacing it with 164.
Not in consideration though was the Perth Scorchers’ similar collapse against the Unicorns, coming up five runs short in the end; the script, to the Qalandars’ dismay, would be the same, playing on the very same surface.
Admittedly, it was a contest of which group of bowlers could hold their nerve better and that award could be given to the Amazon Warriors’ line-up, with Gudakesh Motie being the shining star.

Magical Motie
Dwaine Pretorius crafted the perfect start, striking in his second ball to dismiss Mohammad Naeem for a duck. Matthew Forde followed suit, having Shamyl Hussain caught by Shimron Hetmyer around deep backward square for 5. But as quickly as the highs came, the lows followed with Forde dropping a catch off Pretorius’ bowling in the very next over.
Forde was later punished in his third, conceding 17 runs as the Qalandars seemed to find their rhythm. However, every time the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL) champions felt as though they could free their arms, the Amazon Warriors were right there to stop them in their tracks.
Romario Shepherd, in his first over, rocked back Parvez Hossain Emon’s stumps for 21 from 13 deliveries, featuring two fours and one six, and then came Magical Motie.
Four wickets in the contest and what were the odds that all came from his pinpoint accuracy, uprooting the stumps of Abdullah Shafique, Captain Michael Bracewell, Delano Potgieter and finally, Farhan Yousaf, who was the last guard as the Qalandars slipped to 88-8 by the time that Motie completed his game- winning spell of 4-15 from 4 overs.

Yousaf had the top score on their cards, hitting 28 from 19 balls.
Pretorius and Mohammad Nabi did the cleaning up at the end, cutting off the Qalandars for a nelson, 111 in 17.2 overs for a 53-run victory.

Setting the pace
Eight wickets down and against the ropes for the second consecutive night, the Guyana Amazon Warriors’ middle-order woes continued on Sunday as the Lahore Qalandars managed to come back from a scary start to contain the hosts.
Shepherd was, once again, the level head in the camp, seeing the side through a rough period in which the Warriors lost seven wickets for just 36 runs.
After a jittery dot ball to start the innings, Rahmanullah Gurbaz found his rhythm almost instantaneously cracking 6, 4, 4, 4, 6 in the remaining deliveries to dishearten the bowler, Mohammad Imran. Captain Bracewell immediately brought himself into the attack, returning some semblance of normalcy to the proceedings, but could not prevent the Amazon Warriors from going at in excess of 10 runs per over.
Already going at 11.80 an over by the fifth, Gurbaz rolled back the overs in the final rotation of the power play, blasting Mehran Mumtaz for 22 runs to bring up a belligerent half-century in just 21 balls.
Gurbaz’s blistering knock continued as he teamed up with Mohammad Haris to push the hosts forward after Quentin Sampson’s early demise for just one.
‘A boundary an over’ is what the doctor ordered, propelling the Amazon Warriors past the 100-run mark in just the ninth over, much to the delight of the applauding dressing room.

Collapsing quickly, again
The Afghani wicketkeeper-batsman eventually played one too many, pulling Potgeiter to the deep midwicket boundary where Shafique’s safe pair of hands were waiting to gobble up the catch.
Though Gurbaz departed for a well-played 65 off 35, punctuated by six fours and five sixes, the Amazon Warriors were still comfortable after his departure.
However, a bad case of déjà vu struck for the home team and they crashed to 132-7. The home side, again, lost five wickets for just 17 runs. Shimron Hetymyer, looking to drive, miscued his shot to the man at short leg while Bracewell’s ball crashed into Rovman Powell’s toes, presenting a plum lbw decision.
When Usama Mir came back into the attack, Haris exposed all three of his stumps, giving Mir an easy target of his leg stump after swiping across the line of the delivery.
Nabi and Motie went soon after, leaving the Amazon Warriors’ hopes of moving to the top of the table in jeopardy.
Embodying the Superman pendant on his chest, Shepherd spent some time at the crease, getting a feel of the surface which had earlier displayed distinct cracks and even some spots of grass.
The Berbician’s 29 from 19 balls, including a maximum that threatened to shatter a window in the Media Centre, got the Warriors up to 164-9 in their 20 overs and more importantly, prevented a premature rout. (Jemima Holmes)