TKR takes top spot with win over Warriors

Trinbago Knight Riders surged to the top of the Hero Caribbean Premier League point standings with a 67-run victory over the Guyana Amazon Warriors on Wednesday evening in Trinidad.
Meeting for the first time this season, Warriors decided to have a bowl with their toss victory and were able to restrict a rampaging TKR to 170 – 7. However, they botched the chase and crumbled to 103 all out in the presence of a packed Queen’s Park Oval.
The Twin Island Republic celebrated all night as Warriors’ poor shot selection was no match for the disciplined attack of the opposition.
It started all wrong for the Warriors, losing Luke Ronchi to another bad lbw decision by the umpire for no score. Chadwick Walton’s (4) woes continued after he presented an irresponsible shot to Khary Pierre and was bowled to put his side under even more pressure.
Shimron Hetmyer made 11 before he hit one down the throat of Colin Munro at deep mid-wicket off Ali Khan. GAW were now 21 – 3 and TKR already smelling victory with the crumbling of the top order.
Wickets continued falling as Cameron Delport (2), Chris Green (2) and Sohail Tanvir (0) made no impact with the bat while Jason Mohammed (27) fought to keep the inevitable from an early arrival. The Mohammed-resistance lasted only 27-balls; and another Warriors batsman was out, caught. At that time, GAW were 57-7.
While Roshon Primus contributed some consolation hitting down the order with an unbeaten 36, Rayad Emrit (2), Romario Shepherd (10) and Imran Tahir (0) were all exposed and eventually dismissed.
Ali Khan led with 3 – 22 while Fawad Ahmed, Pierre and the skipper had two wickets each for 20, 21 and 22, respectively. Narine accounted for the other wicket.
The Warriors had an all access pass to the Munro show as he continued his magnificent form this season, further cementing himself as the tournament’s highest run getter with 436.
He was able to score at 360 degrees to record his fifth 50 of the season, the highest score of the lot and the backbone of the Knight Riders’ innings, contributing more than 50 percent of the total.
The Queen’s Park Oval was silenced early on when Amazon Warriors struck first through Tanvir who removed Chris Lynn without scoring on the fifth ball of the night, taking TKR to 1 – 1.
However, Guyana was not prepared for the response which came in the form of a 135-run second wicket partnership between Denesh Ramdin and Munro.
The pair was completely on top and dominated the opposition’s bowling line up. Ramdin was able to score at a bit over a run-a-ball for his 39 that had four fours and a maximum. Munro (90) on the other hand was the attacker, slapping ten fours and fours sixes from 56 deliveries.
Ramdin held out to Imran Tahir on the long on boundary, with the score on 136, off a Chris Green-delivery then Munro toed one from Romario Shepherd and was caught by Green comfortably, running in from the long on boundary.
Two balls later, Shepherd gave the Guyanese support contingent more to cheer about with the removal of the dangerous Brendon McCullum (2) who scooped one to a diving Hetmyer at deep cover. TKR were suddenly 140-4 with 3.2 overs to go.
TKR were well on track for another score above 180 but were set back when Shepherd got Dwayne Bravo (9) to drag one back on to his stumps. The other Bravo, Darren, was left not out on 12 which included a six and a four while Javon Searles (8) was bowled by Tanvir and Narine was caught at long-on off the innings’ final delivery, also bowled by Tanvir.
Tanvir ended with 3-27 while Shepherd had 3 – 29 and Green 1 – 20.
The two sides will meet again when Guyana hosts TKR on September 9 at the Providence National Stadium.