Pretorius Blitz Earns Patriots A Win Over Guyana Amazon Warriors

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 163/6 (Fletcher 41, Pretorius 27*; Smith 2/10, Shepherd 2/42)
beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 162/6 (Hetmyer 46, Hemraj 43; Dananjaya 2/28, Jansen 2/37) by four wickets.

The St Kitts and Nevis Patriots achieved their first victory of the 2022 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) season with a narrow win over Guyana Amazon Warriors by four wickets.

The Guyana Amazon Warriors won the toss and chose to bat, a cautious start saw them score 66 runs in the first ten overs, but captain Shimron Hetmyer produced a tantalizing innings, scoring 46 off just 21 balls, to take his side to 162/6 at the end of the innings.

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in turn lost frequent wickets throughout their chase, with the Warriors stifling them at regular intervals. However a remarkable display of power-hitting from Dwaine Pretorius saw the side score 22 runs in the final over and earn a first win in this year’s CPL season with two balls remaining.

Guyana Amazon Warriors were frustrated early on by some excellent bowling by Sheldon Cottrell and Duan Jansen, who claimed the early wicket of Paul Stirling. Chandrapual Hemraj played a patient innings to build a platform, scoring 43 runs, before Hetmyer displayed some attacking intent, scoring at a strike rate of 219, to take his side to 162/6.

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots followed a similar pattern, taking a patient approach to the start of their chase after losing the valuable wicket of Evin Lewis in the second over. Andre Fletcher went on to score 41 runs for the Patriots before his dismissal but the wickets of both Dwayne Bravo and Darren Bravo in the 16th over had seemingly ended the Patriots chances of a win, before Jansen and Pretorius combined in the final overs with a 55-run partnership to guide the side to a remarkable win.

This was the Patriots first win of the season, while Guyana Amazon Warriors remain winless after three games.