The Guyana Amazon Warriors ran riot over the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons in North Sound to win by 83 runs. The win was set up by monstrous batting performances from Shai Hope (82 off 54), Shimron Hetmyer (65* off 26) and a finishing touch from Romario Shepherd (25* off 8) to guide their team to 211 for 3. The Warriors scored a whopping 145 runs in their last nine overs before Imran Tahir picked up career best figures of 5 for 21 in 4 overs – including a maiden – to skittle out the Falcons for 128.
The innings for the Amazon Warriors began on a slow note. Ben McDermott fell cheaply to Obed McCoy in the PowerPlay, while Kevlon Anderson struggled to find any timing in his innings. Anderson struggled against the initial movement extracted by the bowlers which set the tone for the rest of his innings. Hope survived a run-out chance when he was on seven which changed the complexity of the essay.
Hope pulled McCoy over the ropes to get his innings going before clinching back-to-back boundaries in the last over of the PowerPlay. A brief rain spell put the game behind by 20 minutes but no overs were lost. On the other side of the interruption, Anderson hit the only maximum of his innings to bring up the 50-run stand. The Warriors were still lethargic at the halfway stage at 63 for 1 and the wicket of Anderson in the 11th over seemed to strangle them further.
But Hetmyer and Hope began the charge in the 12th over with two sixes in a 16-run over off Usama Mir. It got worse for the Pakistani legspinner who was thumped by Hope for consecutive sixes as the batter brought up his 50. Hope didn’t stop there, adding two fours while Hetmyer smashed a six in the 15th over.
The Warriors scored 87 runs in the death overs and were gifted with a dropped catch of Hope in the first ball of this phase. The two batters did not hold back in this phase, clinching 46 runs in the first three overs of this phase. It also saw Hetmyer move to his 50 off 21 balls but Hope fell at the end of the 18th, holing out to mid-wicket. Hetmyer went 4, 4, 6 against McCoy in the 19th before Shepherd added the finishing touches with two boundaries and two maximums to take the Warriors past 210.
The innings for the Falcons began positively with Rakheem Cornwall clobbering Dwaine Pretorius for a four and a six but it didn’t last long as Cornwall fell off the very next delivery. Jewel Andrew too showed signs of flair but his innings too was cut short by Pretorius in his second over. The in-form Karima Gore was menacing however, with a four to begin before smashing Gudakesh Motie for 12 runs to take the Falcons past 50 in 4 overs. But Shepherd brought an end to Gore’s promising innings (31 off 14) as the Falcons found themselves three down inside the PowerPlay.
Shakib Al Hasan was stumped off veteran Tahir immediately after the PowerPlay. Tahir followed it up with the wicket of captain Imad Wasim for a duck four balls later in a double-wicket maiden, as the Falcons continued to slump. The South African continued on his merry way with the wicket of Shamar Springer to have the Falcons six-down inside the first 10 overs. Bevon Jacobs holed out to long-on after attempting a pull from Shepherd, sending back the last hope for the Falcons. Tahir then castled Mir’s stumps before rattling the stumps again, this time of McCoy and sealed his five-fer. Motie wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Fabian Allen as the Warriors completed a big win.
Brief Scores: Guyana Amazon Warriors 211/3 in 20 overs (Shai Hope 82, Shimron Hetmyer 65*; Imad Wasim 1-20, Jayden Seales 1-34) beat Antigua and Barbuda Falcons 128 in 15.2 overs (Karima Gore 31, Bevon Jacobs 26; Imran Tahir 5-21, Romario Shepherd 2-16) by 83 runs
