By Ravendra Madholall at Providence
Guyana Amazon Warriors prevailed under a tension-filled contest against Jamaica Tallawahs in their first match at home, the National Providence Stadium by 12 runs Wednesday night.
In the process they now stake a stronger claim in contention to book a place in the final four as they grabbed two crucial points. They have five points but still languishing at the bottom with three more games to go.
They had to navigate the fluency of Brandon King who notched up a delightful century (104) and almost brought it home for Tallawahs in front of vociferous crowd.
Warriors started off proceedings as the underdogs alluding to the fact they were staggering with one win from six matches but their batting fired in all cylinders towards the end to help put up a competitive total of 178-8 while Tallawahs were all out for 166 off 19.5 overs understandably they were scurrying for steady runs.
King blasted the attack around the sward but importantly Warriors kept taking wickets with a great amount of frequency at the other side.
King, the right-handed opening batsman cracked eight fours and seven sixes off 66 balls. He was run out attempting a second run in the final over and that sparked wild celebrations among the approximate 10, 000 spectators and the Warriors players.
There were two wickets apiece for leg-spinner Imran Tahir (2-16) from his four overs, seamer Odean Smith (2-26) from 1.5 overs and left-arm orthodox spinner Gudakesh Motie (2-36) in his four overs.
Earlier, Jamaica Tallawahs won the toss and opted to field. That decision seemed fully vindicated as the Warriors struggled and their batters could not have found the willingness to beat the ball. Tallawahs bowled intelligently to grab wickets too but Shai Hope resisted with an impressive 60 that counted four sixes and three fours. Smith counterattacked well down the order lashing an scintillating 16-ball 42 that included six sixes. He and Keemo Paul participated in a breezy 8th-wicket stand that gave the Guyanese supporters something finally to shout about. Paul contributed 24 not out.
At one stage, the innings appeared fragile as Rahmanullah Gurbaz (00) and his fellow opener Chanderpaul Hemraj (13) went back very quickly. The decline continued with Bangladesh’s ace player Shakib Al Hasan (00) also became an early casualty at 35-3. Skipper Shimron Hetmyer was under some pressure to make an impression with the bat but failed by only scoring 11.
Off-spinner Muhammad Nabi collected three wickets for 12 runs from two frugal overs on a placid pitch. Another off-spinner Chris Green with two wickets too but yielded 24 runs from his maximum four overs.
Guyana Amazon Warriors will be back in action on Thursday under lights again against St. Lucia Kings.
They will clash with arch-rivals Trinibago Knight Riders Saturday before encountering points leader Barbados Royals. All Warriors home games are under lights. a double-header is carded for Thursday. Trinbago Knight Riders clashing with defending champion St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots from 10 am.
Meanwhile, the three other host countries were St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. The championship game is billed for September 30th with the lights switching on at 7 pm.