The Guyana Amazon Warriors stormed into the finals of the 2018 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a six off the penultimate delivery, after producing some brilliant all-round cricket to hand the Trinbago Knight Riders a 2-wicket loss in Tuesday night’s first of two mouthwatering eliminators played at the Providence National Stadium.
It all came down to the last over, when Sohail Tanvir (10*) smashed TKR skipper Dwayne Bravo for a six to seal an emphatic win in front a vocal sold-out crowd. Before Tanvir’s heroics, Bravo had removed Rayad Emrit for one run, as Romario
Chadwick Walton (L) and Shimron Hetmyer (R)
Shepherd, who ended with 13 off 6 not-out, announced himself with a booming six back over Bravo’s head, to take the deficit to 12 runs from two balls.
It was a dismal batting performance from the star-studded TKR, who again fell victim to some brilliant bowling and fielding from the Warriors. Warriors skipper Chris Green grabbed dream figures of 2-8 from his quota of four overs; Tanvir had 2-38; leg-break bowler Imran Tahir claimed 1-22, and a refreshed Rayad Emrit 2-22.
TKR’s top-scorers were Colin Ingram, who whipped a pair of fours in his 25 off 26 balls; Darren Bravo, who chipped in with an uncharacteristically slow 24 off 33; and his brother Dwayne, who produced a run-a-ball 22. Those aside, the defending champs were kept to a paltry 122-7 in 20 overs.
Despite a few hiccups, the Warriors ended on 128-8 with a ball to spare. They are indebted to Shimron Hetmyer, who hit two fours and two sixes in his 39; and Sherfane Rutherford, who continued from his last match by smashing 30 off 17, with four fours and a six in a 50 partnership with Hetmyer which lifted the Warriors
Shimron Hetmyer (R) of Guyana Amazon Warriors receives the man of the match prize from Joseph Harmon (L) Minister of State
after a shaky start.
The simple chase got underway with a thumping six from Luke Ronchi (14) off Khan, which signalled a no-nonsense approach by the Warriors; but Ahmed’s class was too much for Cameron Delport, who fell for 2 to the leg-spinner.
Crowd-favourite Hetmyer walked out to a rockstar reception, but soon lost his partner, who was caught by Sunil Narine off Khary Pierre.
Jason Mohammed succumbed to a good delivery from Narine, trapped lbw in front of his stumps, to reduce the Warriors to 37-3 at the end of the first 10 overs.
Hetmyer then launched Ahmed for a six over mid-wicket, while Chadwick Walton (13) played a few cute dabs to get a couple of fours off Pierre, before the spinner got his revenge after some brilliant fielding off his own bowling resulted in the batsman being run out.
Green also fell at the hands of Pierre, caught in slip by Dwayne Bravo; and the Warriors’ small chase seemed to get a bit tough.
Heroes from the last game, Hetmyer and Rutherford, were again in the spotlight, and they executed a few eye-catching strokes that took the Warriors closer to their
Chris Green
goal.
Rutherford raced into double figures with some lusty blows, one of which disappeared into the stands off Bravo.
A bit of ball watching saw the end of the half-century partnership, which came up with a six as Ingram had Hetmyer run out by a few inches. Rutherford departed the next ball, removed by Cooper.
The Warriors were rampant up front, a repeat of a few nights ago, when they sliced through TKR’s top-order, with Kiwis Brendon McCullum and Colin Munro both going back to the dressing room without scoring, after Tanvir trapped the former LBW and the Warriors Captain removed Munro, all inside three overs.
Denesh Ramdin crunched three fours in his 15 off 11, before Tahir joined in on the fun and had the wicket-keeper pinned leg-before-wicket (LBW).
Narine’s experiment at the top of the order failed again when Green had him easily caught on the ring by Shepherd.
The left-handers Bravo and Ingram consolidated and dug in, playing a more gritty form of cricket as the champs raised their 50 in the 12th over, having lost their top-order in the power-play stages for just 26 runs. Bravo was given a life when Tanvir attempted a brilliant catch but floored it, leaving Emrit to halt his already in-progress celebrations.
Warriors would soon see the back of Bravo, as he edged Tanvir into the waiting gloves of Ronchi to end the 48-run partnership. Emrit was repaid in full when Ingram smashed one straight into the clutches of Rutherford in the deep, as TKR
Sherfane Rutherford of Guyana Amazon Warriors fielding
slipped further into the abyss.
The 100 came for TKR in the 18th over, with the first six of the innings also coming off the bat of Cooper, who nailed Tanvir over mid-wicket.
The final ball of the innings saw Emrit removing Bravo for the second time in a few days, caught by Tahir to end the innings and the lower-order 36-run partnership between himself and Cooper, who was left not out on 15. Already in the finals, the Amazon Warriors will now relax as they wait to see who would be their ultimate opponents: TKR, Jamaica Tallawahs, or the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
