Guyana Amazon Warriors off-spinner Sunil Narine sealed victory against the Red Steel last night by virtue of a wicket maiden super over in a nail-biting contest in the Guyana leg of the Limacol Caribbean Premier League (LCPL) T20 played in front of a sold out crowd at the National Stadium, Providence.
Guyana scored 12 valuable runs in their super over, six of which came off the blade of Chris Barnwell.
In reply the Red Steel batsmen Nicholas Pooran, Ross Taylor and Darren Bravo all succumbed to Narine’s beguiling twirls as the Warriors went two up in this year’s tournament on the back of the off-spinner’s stunning maiden.
Earlier in the match, opener Evin Lewis top-scored with a 51-ball 39 inclusive of a four and two sixes while the West Indies Under-19 wicket-keeper Pooran smashed an entertaining 17-ball 37, hammering three massive sixes and two fours. Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien (19) was the only other player to reach double figures as the Red Steel were limited to 118 for 8 in their 20 overs
The ICC world ranked number one T20 bowler Samuel Badree bamboozled the Amazon Warriors batters, ending with superb figures of 3-18 from four overs. Fast-bowler Fidel Edwards ended with (2-29), Sueliman Benn (1-29) and Kevon Cooper (2-19), all together a good bowling exhibition.
Chasing what had seemed like an easy target, the Warriors toiled through high drama to level the score at 118 for 9 from their 20 overs with Lendl Simmons scoring a fluent 25-ball 32 and all-rounder Barnwell chipping in lower down the order with a mature 37.
The wickets were shared evenly among the Warriors’ bowlers with pacer Ronsford Beaton (2-15) being the pick of the battery, while Narine (2-23), Mohammed Hafeez (1-11), Krishmar Santokie (1-29) and Veersammy Permaul (1-24) were spot on during their spells.
Opener Simmons who failed in the first match opened his account with a vicious cut for four off Benn followed by a pull over fine leg for six off Edwards while Guptill’s (4) woes continued as he found himself trapped LBW by Edwards in the same over leaving the warriors at 22 for 1.
Simmons continued his attack by carving his fellow countryman Badree for a boundary through backward point before the ICC world ranked number one bowler had Hafeez pinned LBW for a duck as the Warriors encountered choppy waters. Top scorer from the first match Ramdin (4) then found himself walking back to the dugout following his edge to Pooran behind the stumps off the bowling of Cooper.
Debutant Leon Johnson (1) then walked out to partner the well set Simmons but was soon removed leg before by Badree who had his second wicket in no time which left the home team teetering at 40 for 4 in the sixth over.
Neesham (7) was stumped by Pooran off the bowling of Badree while Benn got his revenge and his man when he comprehensively bowled Simmons in the 10th over leaving the home team at a sorry 56 for 6. Barnwell and Narine steadied the lower middle-order for a short period.
Narine (16) was the next to go courtesy of Edwards but a flurry of sixes from Barnwell at the back end of the innings saw the Warriors needing 14 runs from 9 deliveries. They would eventually end all tied up.
After winning the toss and electing to field earlier, Guyana made inroads by removing the daring Pakistani Nasir Jamshed (1) who was run out by Santokie in the first over. The Red Steel’s first boundary came off the bat of Lewis who smashed Santokie over the mid-wicket region for six.
The money-shot for the Warriors came when Hafeez had the dangerous Ross Taylor (1) caught in the deep by Guptill who completed by his standards, a relatively easy catch leaving the Trinidadians stuttering at 15-2 in the fifth over.
As expected, the Warriors brought on their ultimate weapon in Narine immediately after the power-play session elapsed following the fifth over and straight away made an impact by removing the younger of the two Bravo brothers in Darren for 1, after the left-hander attempted a sweep and was caught by fine-leg fielder Santokie who was inside the 30-yard circle.
With three of their big guns back in the pavilion, Red Steel skipper Dwayne Bravo and Lewis sought to rebuild the innings as the home team tried to maintain a vice-like grip on the game.
Another blow came immediately after the introduction of Permaul who had the Red Steel skipper Bravo caught behind by his opposite number in Warriors Skipper Denesh Ramdin for 3 runs, further throwing the opposition into strife.
Shortly after the restart of play following the drinks break, Narine was responsible for the dismissal of Lewis who was caught by a patrolling Guptill at long-on. Pooran who scored a quick-fire half-century last year against the Warriors at the same venue, opened his account in typical fashion, an off-side six off all-rounder James Neesham.
Continuing from where he left off last year against the same team, same venue and same bowler, Pooran sought to take a more aggressive approach to his countryman Narine, smashing him for a monster six back over his head, followed by a cheeky reverse sweep for four, hurrying to a score of 23 off 11 balls. He was then set up expertly by Santokie who threw in a slower delivery, having the young left-hander caught in the deep by Neesham.
O’Brien was then bowled by Beaton for his painstaking, boundary-less 19 off 28 balls while Sueliman Benn (1) was knocked over in similar fashion on the last ball of the Red Steel’s innings giving the speedster his second scalp of the game.
Guyana will now turn their attention to Saturday’s encounter against the Darren Sammy-led St Lucia Zouks. The match is scheduled to start at 16:00hrs
