A stylish fifty from Hashim Amla, coupled with some tight bowling allowed the Trinbago Knight Riders to hand the Guyana Amazon Warriors a narrow seven run defeat, their first of the 2016 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) played in front of another sold out Guyanese crowd at Providence last night.
Needing 152 from their 20 overs, Guyana were restricted to 144-9 despite skipper Martin Guptill leading from the front with 50 from 40 balls with a four and four sixes. Trinbago endured a good bowling outing, as their spinners Anton Devcich (2-19) and Sunil Narine (2-25) bowled well while seamers Kevon Cooper (2-23) and Dwayne Bravo (2-25) were equal to the task.
The Trinbago batters coped better on the Providence track unlike the Warriors previous opponents, reaching 151-4 at the expiration of the 20 overs. The South African opener Amla played a stylish hand, crunching six fours in his 54-ball 64, setting the tone for his side.
Captain Bravo hammered 25 off 8 balls with three sixes and a four and Pakistani Umar Akmal ended on 23 not out. The home team continued to bowl well this season as all-rounder Rayad Emrit starred with 2-32 as the most successful bowler for his team.
The Warriors got off to a shaky start, again losing opener Dwayne Smith (00) cheaply when he was caught behind by Akmal off New Zealand’s Devcich whose left-arm spin also rewarded his skipper with the wicket of the in-form Chris Lynn who fell for 21.
Guptill and new batsman Jason Mohammed (19) didn’t seem fazed by the early losses as they found the ropes a few times to help the Warriors reach 61-2 at the half way mark. Two quick wickets, that of Mohammed who fell to his countryman Bravo and Anthony Bramble (04) who attempted to cut left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn (1-25) only to be bowled setting the Warriors back.
An under pressure Chris Barnwell (10) smoked one six before he attempted another big shot only to pick out Akmal in the deep, giving Cooper his first wicket and leaving Guyana 102 for 6. The Warriors skipper continued to find the boundary while Emrit (12) smashed Narine for a six off his last over but fell a few balls later, caught at long-off by Cooper.
With the pressure building up, the Trinbago Knight Riders continued to chip away at the Warriors, as Bravo removed his opposite number shortly after he made his half-century. Rain stopped play for a few minutes and upon resumption, Veerasammy Permaul (18) hit Bravo for a six and a four, leaving his team needing 14 from the final over, a mountain which proved too steep for the Warriors to climb.
Earlier, Amla cracked Sohail Tanvir square of the off-side to bring up his first boundary which he soon followed with a glance to the fine-leg boundary to get the Trinbago Riders going. Emrit’s first over produced the wicket of Devcich (07) who was swallowed by the seamer’s Trinidadian countryman, Mohammed in the deep.
At 28-1, the tournament’s lone overseas centurion, another Kiwi Colin Munro (18) came to the crease and announced himself with a drive through long-on for four off all-rounder Steven Jacobs and the visitors reached their first 50 in the ninth over.
Veerasammy Permaul (1-29), who continues to pick up wickets at crucial stages this season, bagged the big fish Munro who was caught and bowled by the left-arm spinner. Amla progressed and maintained a strike rate well over 100 as he reached another CPL fifty this season before he was bowled by the Adam Zampa (1-32). Akmal and his Captain joined forces at a crucial stage where Guyana looked to pull things back but the pair, Bravo in particular, who smashed three sixes and a four did well to stabilize the middle order before the Trinbago skipper was bowled by his fellow Trinidadian Emrit for a whirlwind 28 off 8 deliveries. The Pakistani and former Warriors skipper Denesh Ramdin (09*) saw their team to the end of the 20 overs without any further static.
Scoreboard
Trinbago Knight Riders innings
H Amla b Zampa 64
A Devcich c Mohammed b Emrit 7
C Munro c & b Permaul 18
Umar Akmal not out 23
D Bravo* b Emrit 25
D Ramdin† not out 9
Extras (lb 1, w 4) 5
Total (4 wickets; 20 overs) 151
Fall of wickets 1-28, 2-70, 3-113, 4-139
Bowling: Tanvir 4-0 -34-0, Jacobs 4-0-23-0, Emrit 4-0-32-2, Zampa
4-0-32-1, Permaul 4-0-29-1
Guyana Amazon Warriors innings
D Smith c Umar Akmal b Devcich 0
M Guptill* c Cooper b Bravo 50
C Lynn c Cooper b Devcich 21
J Mohammed c wkp Ramdin b Bravo 19
A Bramble b Benn 09
S Tanvir b Narine 01
C Barnwell c Akmal b Cooper 10
R Emrit c Cooper b Narine 12
V Permaul c Devcich b Cooper 18
S Jacobs not out 04
A Zampa not out 00
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-25, 3-63, 4-75, 5-78, 6-102, 7-121, 8-122, 9-143
Bowling: Devcich 4-0-17-2, Cooper 3-0-33-2, Benn 4-0-25-1, Cariah
1-0-10-0, Bravo 3.4-0-23-2, Narine 4-0-25-2
