Mohammed, Lynn help Warriors crush star-studded Zouks

By Akeem Greene

Watched by a capacity crowd, the Guyana Amazon Warriors continued to be the top team in the 2016 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) when they inflicted a seven wicket thrashing on the St. Lucia Zouks at National Stadium, Providence on Tuesday.
The crushing victory was built on an unbroken third wicket stand of 82 from 56 balls by man-of-the match Jason Mohammed and Chris Lynn which sealed the team’s fifth win in six matches, with 16 balls to spear.

Mohammed hammered four sixes and one four in his 29-ball 43 while Lynn faced the same amount of deliveries, hitting three sixes and four in his 38.
The chase of 139 began when Martin Guptill signaled his early intentions early by smashing left-arm spinner Derone Davis for huge six over long-on, while Dwayne Smith at the other played some thumping drives, as the team raced to 46 without loss at the end of the first six overs.
Guptill, who was dropped twice by Darren Sammy on nine, luck eventually ran-out when offered a simply return catch to Davis. Smith on the other hand, continued in his destructive manner, clobbering Davis for a towering maximum that hit the wall of the Media Center to bring up the team’s fifty in the 7th over.
Just as Smith was begging to look even more ominous, he held out to a catch at long-off for an attacking 24-ball 32 (3x4s;1×6) but the pair of Chris Lynn and Jason Mohammed stayed way above the required run-rate, hammering any loose balls to the ropes, with the Warriors reaching 75-2 at the half way stage.
Lynn, who showed he has the ability to be a destructive batsman, hit arguably the biggest six of the match when latched on to a delivery by medium-pacer Grant Elliot, hitting him 20 rows back into the red stand.
Next over, Lynn swatted the left-arm spin of Kristopher Ramsaran to cover the cover boundary to bring up the 50-run partnership for the third wicket and set the course for the empathic win.
Guptill won the toss and inserted the Zouks, after which Johnson Charles played a wild hog second delivery of the match to be taken at mid-off.
At the other end, Shane Watson looked in good touch, as his first scoring shot was a delightful back-foot punch through the cover for four but two balls later, the left-arm seam of Sohail Tanvir extracted some bounced and Watson nicked behind.
However, the experience of Michael Hussey and Andre Fletcher (16) stemmed the early fall of wickets taking to the team to 27-2 at the end of the power play. Introduction of leg-spinner Adam Zampa ended the gritty stand of 37 between the two batsmen when he trapped Fletcher leg-before.
The snail-like pace of Zouks innings began improving due to some sensible and risk free batting by Hussey and David Miller as the team motored along from 44-3 after ten overs to 84-3 in fifteen overs and the momentum seemed to be in favour of the men in blue.
Hussey reached his workman-like half-century in the 16th over off 39 balls after crashing Rayad Emrit for three successive fours. Zampa returned into the attack and broke the dangerous 62-run partnership, when he removed Miller for 23 (1×6).
The hard hitting Darren Sammy wasted no time at the crease, belting his boundary to the mid-wicket boundary then playing a cheeky glide past third-man; at the other Hussey played a classic pull backward of square, as Tanvir leaked 18 in the 18th over.
Sammy’s stay was cut short, when Lynn took a running catch on the long-off boundary; it became two-in two balls for Emrit when Hussey offered another catch to Lynn, falling for 64 (7x4s).
The two quick wickets pegged the Zouks progress; Emrit, Zampa and Tanvir took two wickets a piece.
The Warriors will now travel to Jamaica where they play the home team on Friday at Sabina Park from 20:00 hrs. ([email protected])