BASSETERRE, St Kitts, CMC – Guyana Amazon Warriors stormed into the finals of the Caribbean Premier League after a stunning 10 wicket mauling of Jamaica Tallawahs in the second-semi-final here yesterday.
Blistering half centuries from openers Lendl Simmons and Martin Guptill ripped the fight out of the Tallawahs, sending the defending champions crashing out of the tournament and making way for new champions to be crowned.
Simmons and Guptill tore the Tallawahs bowling apart to be unbeaten on 71 and 66 respectively as the Warriors reached 138 in 14.5 overs without losing a wicket after the former champions were restricted to 134 for six in their 20 overs at Warner Park.
The two openers turned the match into a no-contest with clean hitting as a flurry of boundaries and sixes demoralized the Jamaicans.
Simmons struck seven fours and three sixes while Guptill smashed six fours and two sixes with both batsmen punishing the Jamaican attack including international stars the likes of former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori and pacer Jerome Taylor.
Guptill hit the winning runs, smashing the ball through Chris Gayle’s hand and through to the boundary.
The Jamaican top order failed to get things going after Amazon warriors won the toss and sent them into to bat.
Chris Gayle had yet another disappointing outing at the crease scoring just 19 which included three fours.
However Chadwick Walton who hit three fours and a six while top scoring with 34 was impressive, but the length of time he took to settle down curtailed the flow of runs.
Nkrumah Bonner scored 21 and Andre Russell, following his batting heroics on Wednesday, was starting to fire again when Krishmar Santokie’s brilliant work off his own bowling caught him short of the crease.
Russell managed to hit two fours while contributing 20.
Santokie and Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez bowled impressively to frustrate the batsmen, especially during the power play overs.
Guyana Amazon Warriors and Barbados Tridents will meet tomorrow to contest the final of the CPL.
