Guyana Amazon Warriors 157 for 3 (Dindyal 50, Phillips 36, Theekshana 2-33) beat St Lucia Kings 151 for 7 (Asalanka 35, Pretorius 3-29, Shamar 2-25) by seven wickets
The Guyana Amazon Warriors quicks Dwaine Pretorius and Shamar Joseph shared five wickets between them to set up an emphatic win at home by restricting St Lucia Kings to 151 for 7. If Pretorius varied his pace and sent down numerous short balls to fetch three wickets, Shamar consistently breached the 145kmh mark and topped it with 149.9kmh on the night to keep Kings to a total that was “25 runs short,” according to their captain Roston Chase.
The Warriors chase was set up by a half-century opening stand between Glenn Phillips and Mavendra Dindyal before Shimron Hetmyer and Quentin Sampson steered them out of a brief stutter towards the end for a seven-wicket win which gave them top position on the points table.
Pretorius’ short balls sent the Kings openers back in the powerplay as Kamil Pooran (19 off 9) top-edged one for the keeper and Andries Gous found deep midwicket for his 21-ball 20. The top-four partnerships struggled to put together any substantial runs – something Chase rued later – as Imran Tahir accounted for Ackeem Auguste and Shamar removed Chase before the halfway mark. No. 5 Charith Asalanka and Darren Nedd – playing only his third T20 – gave Kings some respite by putting together 45 runs off 40 balls, that also took them past 120.
But two sharp catches from the 41-year-old Mohammad Nabi accounted for the set batters. He first pouched one at mid-off to send Nedd back and in the 19th over completed an excellent diving catch at deep midwicket after Asalanka couldn’t middle a cutter from Pretorius. Matthew Forde belted a couple of sixes in between and Shadley van Schalkwyk collected a couple of fours in the end to help them past 150.
Phillips took off in the chase in his usual style with two sixes and two fours while 21-year-old Dindyal – playing only his second T20 game – took his time and followed his duck on CPL debut with a run-a-ball 50. The duo put on 48 in the powerplay and 77 in 10 overs before Phillips offered two catches. The first was put down at deep extra cover but the next was taken by Forde next ball to break the opening stand. Dindyal soon smashed a couple of sixes to bring the asking rate down towards seven an over but he was stumped off Maheesh Theekshana who bowled a frugal first spell of two overs for just nine runs.
Theekshana, van Schalkwyk and Chase tried to pull things back by giving away just 13 runs in three consecutive overs and Theekshana also had Shai Hope caught behind. But Sampson’s two sixes on the leg side to end that over and Hetmyer’s four fours on the bounce in the next dashed Kings’ hopes. Hetmyer finished things off with a six that saw Warriors wallop 36 runs off the last nine balls.
Cricinfo
