Guyana Amazon Warriors 162/4 (Klaasen 61*, Hetmyer 32 ; Royal 2/15, Chase 1/25) beat Saint Lucia Kings 161/7 (Charles 87, du Plessis 31; Shamsi 2/14, Paul 2/27) by six wickets
Guyana Amazon Warriors secured their first victory of the 2022 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) season with a win over Saint Lucia Kings by six wickets in front of a lively home crowd last night.
The Guyana Amazon Warriors won the toss and chose to field, yet it was the Kings who got off to a blistering start, racing to 77-0 in the powerplay before being held back by spinners Imran Tahir and Tabraiz Shamsi. The Kings finished on 161/7, with Johnson Charles batting throughout the whole innings and scoring a superb 87 off just 59 balls.
Despite losing early wickets, Guyana Amazon Warriors navigated their chase through Shimron Hetmyer and Heinrich Klaasen, who built a 66-run partnership together. Klaasen would go on to score a sublime 61 from 46 balls to take Amazon Warriors to their first win of the season with ten balls to spare.
Saint Lucia Kings got off to a dream start, Charles combining with Faf du Plessis to reach 77-0 after six overs, the highest powerplay score of the season so far. Yet Shamsi and Tahir highlighted their quality by restricting runs and picking up wickets that held up scoring for the Kings. Tim David launched a late counter-attack, but it was Keemo Paul who shone with the ball in the final over, picking up two wickets and giving away just four runs, which saw the Kings end on 161/7 after 20 overs.
Guyana Amazon Warriors started their chase with intent, Chandrapaul Hemraj scoring five boundaries before being dismissed in the 4th over, with fellow opener Shai Hope then being caught out two balls later. Nevertheless Hetmyer and Klaasen worked together to score runs and keep the Warriors close to their target. Despite Hetmyer losing his wicket, Klaasen would bat through to the end, and supported by Keemo Paul, managed to get his side across the line with ten balls remaining.
The win means Amazon Warriors have registered their first victory of the season, while Saint Lucia Kings have suffered their second successive loss.
