Riding on Lendl Simmons’ unbeaten half-century and Merchant de Lange’s 4-for, the Guyana Amazon Warriors cruised to a commanding seven-wicket win over the Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel in last evening’s final preliminary match of the Hero CPL T20 tournament at the Providence National Stadium.
The sold out crowd at the National Stadium was treated to a comprehensive whipping of the Trinidadians by the Amazon Warriors which took them to second place on the points table.
Man-of-the-match Simmons ended on 65 from 51 balls with five fours and three sixes as the Warriors made a mockery of their 117-run target, cruising to 118-3 in 17 overs. Australian Brad Hodge smashed a 25-ball 33 with two fours and two sixes ending as the next best scorer for the Warriors.
South African de Lange used his pace and venom to bag 4-23 from his four overs, getting support from Devendra Bishoo (2-19) and a wicket each from Hodge and Sunil Narine.
Cameron Delport smoked six fours and one six in his top score of 44 for the Red Steel who were restricted to 117 for 8 in 20 overs.
Simmons got off to a flier during the chase as he pummeled the Red Steel bowlers with a barrage of shots, one of which broke the window at the Media Center building. The assault continued and the Warriors reached their 50 in seven overs.
Assad Fudadin (09) was the first to fall when he was caught by Sulieman Benn off Kevon Cooper breaking the 54-run opening stand, followed by Denesh Ramdin who was stumped for 5 off a wide by Kamran Akmal off Botha’s spin.
Simmons continued to play his game and brought up his 50 off 40-balls while new man Hodge with whom he shared a 52-run partnership with for the third wicket, spanked it around as the deficit reached 22 from 32 balls.
The hundred came up in the 15th over as the two batters got a move on.
Hodge smoked Cooper for the first six in the grass mound which he followed up with another thumping shot down the ground but was bowled a few balls after by Bravo.
Despite the loss of the Australian, the Warriors cruised inevitably cruised to a win with a single by Simmons who punched their air in delight.
Earlier, De Lange made inroads early when Kallis nicked one to the wicket-keeper Ramdin in the first over while Jevon Searles fell in the South African’s second over, hooking a rising delivering into the clutches of Barnwell at cover.
At 24-2, the younger of the two Bravos’ walked out to partner Delport who earlier got his first boundary compliments of a text book cover-drive. The boundaries then leaked around the ground for a short period as both left-handers capitalized on some loose bowling, bringing up the Red Steel 50 in six overs.
The big wicket of the in-form Darren Bravo (03) came in de Lange’s third over when the batsman tried a cheeky guide through the slip cordon but was undone by the sudden bounce and movement and was instead caught by Ramdin.
Delport, who was playing aggressively throughout the innings, fell short of a well deserved 50. Immediately after smashing Hodge for a big six, the South African was then brilliantly caught at mid-off by diving Simmons.
The skipper became Narine’s victim in the 14th over, trapped LBW for a painstaking 5 runs off 12 balls. Pakistani Kamran Akmal (10), found himself caught between some teamwork from the Guyanese Bishoo and Permaul, after he was caught by the latter off some good leg-spin by the former.
Despite the constant falling of wickets, the Red Steel brought up their much needed 100 in the 17th over but continued to lose wickets, nearing the end of the innings with the fall of; Cooper (10) who became de Lange’s fourth wicket and the last to fall.
The Amazon Warriors have now moved into second position with 11 points and will play the second playoff between either the Red Steel or Jamaica Tallawahs on Saturday. The Red Steel and Jamaica Tallawahs will clash in the first playoffs tomorrow.
Scoreboard
Trinidad & Tobago Red
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
