Given the conditions, 118 seemed as if it was going to be a difficult chase. However, Simmons appeared to be batting on a different pitch as he crashed boundaries in the Powerplay to break the back of the chase early on and get the Amazon Warriors well ahead of the rate.
Warriors beat Red Steel by seven wickets
Simmons’ early aggression diluted the difficulty of the remaining run-chase for the Amazon Warriors and the Red Steel struggled to build pressure.
There was a glimmer of hope for them however, when they removed Assad Fudadin, who struggled for fluency alongside Simmons, and captain Denesh Ramdin, in quick succession. However, Simmons and the experience of Brad Hodge, who was dismissed just before the end, guided the Amazon Warriors to what was eventually a comfortable victory with 18 balls to spare.
Scoreboard
Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel
J Kallis c †Ramdin b de Lange 3
C Delport c Simmons b Hodge 44
J Scantlebury-Searles c Barnwell b de Lange 6
D Bravo c †Ramdin b de Lange 3
J Botha b Bishoo 22
DJ Bravo* lbw b Narine 5
Kamran Akmal† c Permaul b Bishoo 10
K Cooper c Wiese b de Lange 10
D Davis not out 1
S Badree not out 3
Extras (b 4, lb 1, w 5) 10
Total (8 wickets; 20 overs) 117
Did not bat: SJ Benn
Fall of wickets 1-7 (Kallis), 2-19 (Scantlebury-Searles), 3-55 (DM Bravo), 4-65 (Delport), 5-80 (DJ Bravo), 6-97 (Kamran Akmal), 7-111 (Botha), 8-113 (Cooper)
Bowling: Permaul 4-0-20-0, de Lange 4-0-23-4, Narine 4-0-17-1, Wiese 2-0-21-0, Hodge 2-0-12-1, Bishoo 4-0-19-2.
Guyana Amazon Warriors innings
L Simmons not out 65
A Fudadin c Cooper b DJ Bravo 9
D Ramdin*† st †Kamran Akmal b Botha 5
B Hodge b DJ Bravo 33
Umar Akmal not out 3
Extras (w 3) 3
Total (3 wickets; 17 overs) 118
Did not bat: CD Barnwell, D Wiese, SP Narine, V Permaul, M de Lange, D Bishoo
Fall of wickets 1-54 (Fudadin), 2-62 (Ramdin), 3-114 (Hodge)
Bowling: Badree 3-0-21-0, Davis 3-0-27-0, Benn 4-0-17-0, DJ Bravo 3-0-22-2, Botha 3-0-15-1, Cooper 1-0-16-0.
Results: Warriors won by seven wickets
Points: Warriors 2, Red Steel 0.
Player-of-the-match- Lendl Simmons
Toss – Red Steel.
Umpires – N Shivsankar , J Ward (Australia)-tv P Gustard
