St. Kitts & Nevis, Aug 27: Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) dealt a big blow in the opening match of the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a nine-run win over defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR).
TKR who won all 12 matches in the 2020 edition were humbled by GAW by nine runs. TKR won the toss and put the GAW into bat and despite Shimron HetmyerтАЩs 50 they were able to restrict their opponents to 142/7.
In reply, GAW went even better by restricting TKR to 133 as Romario Shepherd (3/15) and Man-of-the-Match Odean Smith, who scored 24 while batting, snared two for 10 in two overs.
GAW began well and then the hard hitting Odean Smith at No. 3 maximised the PowerPlay overs with 24 runs from 15 balls. GAW were well-served by vice-captain Hetmyer (54) who anchored the innings and slammed lusty blows to score the first 2021 Hero CPL fifty.
Early in their innings TKR seemed on track to pull off a win but the loss of both Sunil Narine and Bravo to the bowling of Imran Tahir put the brakes on and they lost wickets at regular intervals. TKR were 78/5 after 12 overs and just did not recover.
Match 1: Scores:
GAW: 142 / 7 (S Hetmyer 54, O Smith 24, S Narine 2/17, Akeal Hosein 2/17)
TKR: 133/9 (D Ramdhin 28, R Shepherd 3/15, O Smith 2/10, Imran Tahir 2/15)
Result: GAW win by nine runs.
Man of the match: Odean Smith (GAW)
St Kitts win in style against Barbados
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots (SKN) got their campaign off to a winning start with a comfortable 21-run win over the Barbados Royals (BR), who won the toss and elected to field.
Patriots were 38 for three, the loss of wickets including Chris Gayle, but a superb 115-run partnership in 70 balls between DJ Bravo (47 not out) and Sherfane Rutherford (53) ensured a solid 175 for 5 in 20 overs. Fabian Allen picked 15 in seven balls late in the innings.
The PatriotsтАЩ bowlers then delivered a fine bowling performance and were never in danger against the Barbados batsmen. The Barbados openers were gone in the first three overs. Through the middle over the Patriots tightened their grip.
Shai Hope gave some hope with a 44 but his dismissal spelt disaster despite some late effort by Azam Khan. Patriots closed with a dominant win.
Match 2: Scores:
SKN: 175/5 (S Rutherford 53, Dwayne Bravo 47, O Thomas 3/22)
BR: 154/ 7 (S Hope 44, Azam Khan 28, S Cottrell 2/38, D Drakes 2/13)
Result: SKN win by 21 runs
Man of the match: Sherfane Rutherford (SKN)
