Republic Bank CPL… Hurricane Hetmyer blows through Port-of-Spain in GAW victory

The Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) will come home to the Land of Many Waters with their unbeaten streak still intact in the 2026 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) following a record- equalling, belligerent century from Shimron Hetmyer that led the visitors to victory in Trinidad and Tobago on Monday night.
Hetmyer and co handed the Trinbago Knight Riders an undesirable Independence Day gift, with a nine-run victory (DLS method), delving the hosts further into hot water this season.

Hurricane Hetmyer
It took Hetmyer just seven balls to get a feel of the Queen’s Park surface before he erupted like a dormant volcano. Jyd Goolie was the first bowler to feel the wrath of Hetmyer’s fury, sent for two sixes, straight and over midwicket, respectively.
The 16-run seventh over was a sign of things to come for the Amazon Warriors who never looked back from that point. While Hetmyer blasted CPL and Trinbago debutant Lahiru Kumara for 15 runs in the eighth over, Matthew Nandu struggled, unable to clear the boundary.

The Amazon Warriors employed a bit of tactics at that point, having Nandu retire out on 13 from 21 balls on the final ball of the ninth over after he was unable to get Usman Tariq away.
The following over from Sunil Narine went for just 11, leaving the Amazon Warriors in a questionable position at 78-3 in 10 overs. By the end of 12th, they were 100-4 with Mohamad Nabi just departing for six.
Then, Hurricane Hetmyer struck. 6, 6, 4, 6, 4, 4 – clearing the boundary on every ball of Kumara’s third over and spoiling his figures (1-55 from 3 overs).
TKR won the battle in the 14th over as Narine conceded just 14 and accounted for Quentin Sampson for 7 off 4 deliveries.
However, with Romario Shepherd now at the crease and Hetmyer approaching his century, fireworks were imminent. Shepherd took control in the 15th, blasting 26 runs off Dominic Drakes’ bowling after an opening single from Hetmyer.
Hetmyer eventually brought up his century off 40 balls in his 100th CPL match, with a magnificent hit over the midwicket fence. Hetmyer found himself in elite company, equalling the 40-ball CPL century record from Andre Russell and Tim Seifert.
Another maximum followed off Hetmyer’s bat and a couple of singles as the Berbician ended the innings unbeaten on a majestic 111* off 43 balls. His knock included eight fours and nine sixes.
Shepherd, on the other hand, was also unbeaten on 27 off 7 balls, slamming two fours and three sixes.
As such, the Amazon Warriors posted a mammoth 185-5 in their 16 overs, a strong recovery from their rocky start.
The start was nothing to write home about as Glenn Phillips faced three dot balls before becoming Akeal Hosein’s victim, leaving the visitors 1 down without a run on the board. Shai Hope’s stay was also short- lived: he hit 16 from 11, including two sixes before departing off Kumara’s bowling in the fourth over.
A lengthy rain delay followed soon after, leaving the Amazon Warriors in a bit of worries, but cometh the hour, came the man, Hetmyer.
Hosein, Narine, Kumara and Tariq all snared one wicket each.

Game. Set. Match
It was the first ball of the seventh over that the chase turned on its head for the hosts. Nicholas Pooran, hoping to fetch a wide-ish delivery from Nabi could only get it as far as backward point where Sampson dived to his left to take the catch.
Pooran departed for a fiery 43 off 16 balls, having smashed three fours and four sixes.
When it rained, it poured for the Knight Riders.
Goolie managed to avoid Nabi’s hat-trick ball and the ensuing delivery, playing it down safely, but could not survive an lbw, even after review, with the ball crashing into leg stump.
Captain Imran Tahir struck in the next over, castling Justin Graves for just one after an overturned review the ball prior.
The Knight Riders were on 77-5 in 8 overs, requiring a run rate of 13.12 and the Amazon Warriors looked like they were cruising to victory at that point.
However, the duo of Alex Hales and Hosein made the visitors labour for the sixth scalp with a 43-run partnership off 21 balls.
Hitting a hat-trick of fours off Shamar Joseph’s pace, Hosein felt confident of becoming a hero but he was stopped in his tracks by his countryman Khary Pierre, caught and bowled for 18 off 11.
From there, the Amazon Warriors were able to bring the tempo of the game back down as Tahir conceded just three runs off the next (12th) over with the Knight Riders’ required rate now exceeding 16.

Tense finish
Hales came to the party for the Knight Riders, inching them closer to their target with a 24-ball 55. Hales slammed one four and seven sixes before Shamar Joseph disrupted his stumps in the 15th over with the hosts still needing 32 runs.
Unbothered, Joshua DaSilva hit Joseph for two boundaries in the final two balls of the 15th, giving the Knight Riders hope with 24 needed off the last over.
Picking the final-over bowler seemed to be a gamble for the Amazon Warriors who overlooked Dwaine Pretorius to hand Shepherd the ball.
In the grand scheme of things, it was a tidy over from the Berbician, as he gave away just eight runs in five balls, at which point it was clearly all over for the Knight Riders. The six off the last ball did not matter much as the hosts were nine runs short of their ground.
Nabi was the pick of the GAW bowlers, claiming 3-20 from three overs.
The Republic Bank CPL action will shift back to St Kitts and Nevis today where the Patriots will look to defend their home turf against the Barbados Royals from 19:00h local time.