Guyana Amazon Warriors captain, Nicholas Pooran, believes experience triumphed on Tuesday after their seven-wicket loss to St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the semi-final of the Caribbean Premier League T20 competition.
Warriors, who had lost twice in the group stage to the Patriots, were sent in to bat first for a third time, posting 178 for nine.
Patriots then made light work of the chase, reaching their target with 13 balls to spare.
At the end of the match, Pooran said, it was a “tough loss but it was difficult today especially after putting up our best score of the tournament.”
He added, “I think as a bowling group today we didn’t turn up. Experience won today and I just feel like the moment was too big for our bowlers today but in saying that there is a lot to take from this game.”
Three of their leading bowlers, Odean Smith, Romario Shepherd and Imran Tahir all went for over 10 runs per over as Patriots added 76 and 88 respectively for the first two partnerships.
“The young bowlers especially, I hope they
learn from this experience and they can come back next year whereever they play and be much better,” the 25-year-old noted.
Pooran reckoned that at the halfway stage of their innings, the match was setting up well as they sat on 88 for the loss of two wickets while looking for any score over 160.
“I thought [Shimron] Hetmyer took the responsibility and played a wonderful innings and swung the momentum back into our favour but again today wasn’t our day. We didn’t turn up with the ball and it’s simple we paid the price for it,” he declared.
Looking at the positives, Pooran namedropped Smith and Shepherd, who both ended the season with 18 wickets and Gudakesh Motie, who picked up eight wickets as some of the outstanding performers for the team.
“A lot of the youngsters put their hands up and showed the world what they can do as cricketers.
“I am proud they got the opportunity and took it with both hands but again, this is a learning experience for them and I hope they can only improve and get better from here.”
