Guyana Amazon Warriors in the final thanks to King ton

Guyana Amazon Warriors continued their unbeaten 2019 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) by crushing the Barbados Tridents to progress to the CPL final at the Brian Lara Stadium on Saturday 12 October.

Brandon King helped himself to 11 sixes on his way to the highest ever Hero CPL score of 132*, sending him top of this season’s run-scoring charts with 453 runs.

The Guyana Amazon Warriors got off to a flier through King and Chanderpaul Hemraj. King’s 29 off 22 balls and Hemraj’s 19 off 14 saw them to 48-0 off the PowerPlay.

It took a sensational catch from Hayden Walsh Jr to dismiss Hemraj off his own bowling, turning and sprinting, then diving full-stretched to cling on to the ball.

King reached his 50 off 36 balls right on halfway of the Warriors’ innings with a cut for 4. Skipper Jason Holder then brought himself back into the attack, after earlier being taken for 20 off his two Powerplay overs.

Holder fared better with the softer ball, having Shimron Hetmyer well held by Raymon Reifer at deep mid-wicket for 3.

Warriors captain Shoaib Malik helped guide King to his maiden T20 hundred. Malik brought up his career 9000 runs in T20 cricket with a six, only the fourth batsmen to get there in the history of the format.

At the other end, King continued to play the knock of the tournament, reaching his hundred with a booming six off Raymon Reifer.

This scintillating partnership was ended on 97 by Tridents’ best bowler on the day, Hayden Walsh Junior, when he dismissed Malik for 32 off 19. Walsh bowled very well, but his figures were damaged when Nicolas Pooran came in and hit his first two deliveries over the rope.

The previous record score on this ground, 193-8 by St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in 2018, was surpassed in the first ball of the last over as four leg byes rubbed salt in the Tridents’ already large wounds.

The highest ever CPL score of 121* by Andre Russell was then surpassed by King who finished on a jaw-dropping 132 off 72 balls, Pooran’s handy cameo earnt him 12 off 3.

The Tridents got off to what would be a great start in any normal game in this year’s CPL, but were always behind the eight-ball chasing 219.

Johnson Charles smashed a couple of early boundaries but then got bogged down, looping up a catch to point off Imran Tahir’s second ball, out for 15 off 14.

Hales was then bowled by Tahir attempting an ambitious slog sweep after an explosive 36 off 19 balls. When a shot from Shakib resulted in a great diving catch by Hetmyer, the Tridents were 59-3 after 7.5 and needed a massive partnership between the new batsmen, JP Duminy and Shai Hope.

This did not happen, Duminy chopping on for 14 off Odean Smith’s second ball and then Hope went to become the first of Romario Shepherd’s two victims. Jonathan Carter made a swift 49 to top-score for the Tridents but holed out one short of his half-century.

Odean Smith induced a chop on from Reifer’s first ball, before Ashley Nurse and Jason Holder hit some massive blows, but it was too little too late for the chasing side.

Barbados Tridents now face TKR on Thursday with one last shot to meet the Amazon Warriors again in the final on Sunday.

Brief Scorecard:

Guyana Amazon Warriors 218/3 (King 132*, Malik 32, Hayden Walsh Jr 2/42) beat Barbados Tridents 188/8 (Carter 49, Hales 36, Holder 29. R Shepherd 3/50, Tahir 2/13) by 30 runs

Upcoming Fixtures:

Thursday 10 October – Qualifier 2: Trinbago Knight Riders v Barbados Tridents, Brian Lara Stadium;

Saturday 12 October – Final: Guyana Amazon Warriors v Winner Qualifier 2 (5 pm), Brian Lara Stadium.