Led by a record breaking, breathtaking century from Brandon King, Guyana Amazon Warriors cemented their fifth finals appearance and the chance to win their maiden HERO Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title after beating Barbados Tridents by 30 runs last night at the Providence National Stadium.
Winning the toss and electing to bat, the hosts, in front of an electrifying capacity crowd of 15,000, rocketed to 218-3 from their 20 overs.
Warriors then contained Tridents to 188-8 and extend their undefeated campaign to 12 wins.
King, 24, etched his name into the history books with the highest individual score across all seasons of the CPL.
His masterful 132 not out came from just 72 balls and included 10 fours and 11 sixes.
The right-handed batsman began his assault from the on-set, smashing Tridents captain, Jason Holder for three fours and a six in an 18-run third over.
The Jamaican carried on his aggressive batting with an equally aggressive left-hander, Chandrapaul Hemraj, the pair sharing in their fifth half century opening stand of the season.
Hemraj looking to shift gear, was out to a brilliant return catch running back from the bowling crease by Hayden Walsh Jr., to remove the 26-year-old for 27 from 23 balls and break the 73-run partnership.
Shimron Hetmyer departed soon after for just three, his seventh single figure score in nine innings.
King was then joined by his captain, Shoaib Malik and together the pair added 97 for the third wicket.
The pair paced the innings well, picking the odd bad balls and capitalising on a poor 16th over by left-arm spinner, Shakib Al Hassan that went for 29 runs.
Malik deposited the first delivery into the mid-wicket boundary before replicating the shot off the following delivery sending the ball over the rails and several flights up the Red Stand.
King joined the party with a four over extra cover and followed up with sixes over long on and extra cover respectively.
He spared no bowler, including left-arm seamer Raymon Reifer who was belted for 16 runs including a six over mid-wicket to bring up his maiden century, sending the crowd berserk.
Dropped on 31, Malik was eventually bowled by the tournament’s leading wicket taker, Walsh Jr., for 32 from 19 balls.
Nicholas Pooran then walked to the middle to hit the leg-spinner for consecutive boundaries as he finished unbeaten on 12 from three balls and see the highest total at the venue being achieved.
Tridents were encouraged by cameos but their batsmen never went on.
Johnathan Carter was the topscorer with 49 from 26 balls. He struck five fours and three sixes before picking substitute fielder, Veerasammy Permaul out at mid-wicket.
Alex Hales was given two lives early on and managed a 20-ball 36 before being bowled by Imran Tahir ( 2-13) who also removed Johnson Charles for 15.
Shai Hope in his first match of the tournament failed to inspire anything significant with 21 while Jason Holder made 29 before giving Romario Shepherd a return catch to end the match.
Odean Smith bagged 2-25 while Shepherd ended with 3-50.
Guyana will now await the winner of the Tridents clash with Trinbago Knight Riders in the second Qualifier on Thursday.
