Denesh Ramdin last night played a captain’s knock and, along with Sunil Narine’s miserly three-wicket spell, helped take the Guyana Amazon Warriors to their first win at home over the St Lucia Zouks as they defeated the visitors by three wickets in match 26th of the Hero CPL T20 tournament played at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence to move to second place in the point’s standings.
Played in front a sold out crowd, the Warriors found it difficult to reach the meagre target of 112 but eventually got over the ropes thanks to the cool, calm and collected Ramdin who, with wickets tumbling like nine-pins all around him, struck an unbeaten workmanlike 39 from 45 balls with three fours and the six which sealed the win.
Opener Lendl Simmons had earlier cracked five fours in his brisk 27-ball 31 as the Warriors reached 112-7 in 18 overs replying to the St Lucia Zouks’ 11-7 off their allotted 20 overs.
Keron Cottoy, the 25-year-old leg-spinner was stingy and effective during his four overs in which he bagged four wickets at a cost of a mere 18 runs as he gave his team a brief glimmer of hope. After winning the toss, Ramdin inserted the Zouks and with the spinners Narine, Devendra Bishoo and Veerasammy Permaul to the fore with support from David Wiese restricted them to 111 for 7 from 20 overs.
The plan to play three spinners paid off when Narine weaved his Customary magic to bag three wickets for only six runs from his quota of four overs while South African seamer Wiese ended with 2-25, Brad Hodge 1-9 and Merchant de Lange 1-28.
Zouks’ skipper Kevin Pietersen played well for his 21-ball 4 with two fours and one six, finding small amounts of support from Henry Davids 25 not out and Ross Taylor who scored a run-a-ball 20.
The Warriors began their chase in an aggressive manner with a flurry of boundaries from the bat of Simmons and Assad Fudadin (05) who struck one four before he was removed by Johnson after mistiming a hook shot which sailed down the throat of Shannon Gabriel.
A steady, progressive approach by Simmons and his skipper who came in at number three saw the Warriors reaching 50 in 6.2 overs. However, Cottoy’s leg-spin bamboozled both Simmons who was first caught by Keddy Lesporis at long-on before the in-form Hodge was caught and bowled a few balls later without scoring.
The St Vincent leg-spinner continued to ride his luck and was rewarded
when the odd googly was served up to Chris Barnwell who misread the ‘wrong un” and was bowled while Wiese was found well short of his crease after a direct throw from the substitute Lesporis down at the long-off boundary struck the stumps.
At drinks, Guyana were well placed at 65 for 3, requiring 47 runs from 60 balls with seven batsmen left in the shed and their skipper looking set to carry his side over the finish line. Cottoy, however had other ideas and struck again the over after the break, this time removing Umar Akmal (07) who was given out leg before wicket but replay showed that the ball had actually hit the bat before going onto the pads.
Narine was also run out for one in a mix up with Ramdin, placing the
Warriors in a tight spot needing 22 runs from 32 balls with only three wickets in hand. In a surprising move, however, Pietersen decided to give Andre Fletcher the ball and Ramdin took a special liking to the part-time leggy, hitting two fours in the over.
Needing just eight runs from the final three overs Ramdin finished the game by smashing Edwards for a six to win the game in emphatic fashion for his team.
During the Zouks batting innings, Fletcher (16) survived a first ball appeal for a stumping off Permaul in the first over but the openers opened their accounts with fours off the next over bowled by de Lange.
Wiese would then draw first blood when he served up a slower delivery which knocked back the leg-stump of Johnson Charles for 11.
Pietersen then walked out to the middle and immediately got off the mark with a clip through the on-side off his fellow South African Wiese. The Zouks skipper continued his liking for Wiese and smoked the fast-bowler for a six and followed up with a drive through the covers for four but was given a life on 16 when Akmal spilled a sitter.
Narine’s introduction proved the turning point as he landed a double blow, first picking up the big wicket of Fletcher who was trapped LBW, then Delorn Johnson who was caught in the deep by de Lange for duck, leaving the Zouks wobbling at 49-3.
After the Zouks raised their Team’s 50, Narine produced a bit of magic to remove Pietersen LBW,
much to the disappointment of the skipper who had some doubts about the delivery which removed him. Hodge’s first ball of his first over sailed over the ropes as Kyle
Mayers (07) sought to launch a fight-back but was caught the very next delivery by Bishoo at deep backward-square before new-man Taylor and Davids consolidated for a few overs.
The penultimate over saw Taylor falling to de Lange, caught again by Bishoo in the deep while the final over bowled by Wiese brought forth the wicket of McCullum (01), caught behind by Ramdin.
The Warriors will now look to their next match against the Barbados
Tridents at 16:00hrs.
