A young star showed his hand for T&T Red Steel last night, but his heroics were not enough as they went under to the Guyana Amazon Warriors by 19 runs in their opening match of the Limacol Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 tournament at Providence in Guyana.
Set a winning target off 156 runs, Red Steel were wobbling before Nicholas Pooran walked to the crease unnoticed. However, before the end of the night he was well known to the Guyanese crowd, as he hammered 54 runs off 24 balls, but his team still fell 19 runs short of the Warriors total.
Lendl Simmons, 42, and Martin Guptill, 32, started the licking and towards the end of the Warriors' innings skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan, 21 not out, and James Franklyn, 26 not out, did likewise to give their team a competitive score.
Red Steel started off slowly with Davey Jacobs consuming 21 balls for his ten runs and the innings took a long while to gain any momentum.
With Jacobs, the South African struggling, Justin Guillen was forced on the offensive and he carved a run a ball 22 before both openers left.
With only 50 runs scored off ten overs, the battle was always going to be rigid and although Pooran struck six mighty sixes and Darren Bravo caressed 23, it was not enough to put a damper on the spirits of 15,000 cricket crazy Guyanese fans.
Earlier, Warriors came out hunting down quick runs and this they got, as Bravo chopped and changed his bowlers in an attempt to push them back. The youthful Miguel Cummins started well in his first T20 match but the experience of Martin Guptill and Lendl Simmons soon forced him off line and he was down the leg side on a number of occasions.
Whilst the openers were at it, they softened the Red Steel and the white ball started to fly all around the park. While Simmons was flaying the attack the DJ was blasting a tune titled I am a Guyanese, I am a Guyanese.
The openers looked untroubled for the most part as the T&T Red Steel bowling looked rusty. Bravo then turned to Samuel Badree, the wicket taker and he provided a filip for the T&T boys with a great flipper sending back Guptil plumb leg before for 32 with the score 74 in the tenth over.
The New Zealander scored a crisp 32 off just 21 balls with three fours and one six. However, Simmons stuck around and continued to punish his countrymen.
He lost Pakistani Mohammed Hafeez for 14 with the score at 98 and then he himself fell for 42, as the Red Steel made a sterling comeback, taking four wickets for eight runs in 17 balls. Simmons faced 50 balls and struck two fours and a six. Bravo grabbed two wickets to bring his side right back into the contest.
His first two overs went for just nine runs but the combination of James Franklyn and Ramnaresh Sarwan pounded him for 32 from his last two overs, as the Warriors stormed back to finish on 155 for five off 20 overs. Franklyn scored 26 off 20 balls with three sixes and Sarwan got 21 not out off 12 balls with two fours and a six.
SCOREBOARD
SCOREBOARD
T&T Red Steel vs Guyana Amazon Warriors
Warriors Inns
L Simmons c Jacobs b Bravo 42
M Guptill lbw Badree 32
M Hafeez c Taylor b O'Brien 14
J Franklin not out 26
C Barnwell c Benn b Bravo 0
N Deonarine run out 1
R Sarwan not out 21
Extras b4, lb12, w3 19
Total for 5 wkts (20) 155
Fall of wkts: 74, 98, 103, 103, 106,
Bowling: M Cummins 2-0-9-0, S Badree 4-0-30-1, S Benn 4-0-18-0, K Cooper 4-0-27-0, K O'Brien 2-0-14-1, D Bravo 4-0-41-2.
Red Steel Inns
D Jacobs b Permaul 10
J Guillen b Hafeez 22
D Bravo c Ramdin b Santokie 23
R Taylor lbw Permaul 2
N Pooran c Hafeez b Permaul 54
DJ Bravo c Barnwell b Narine 8
K O'Brien b Santokie 8
K Cooper run out 0
S Badree not out 3
S Benn b Narine 0
M Cummins not out 0
Extras b2, lb2, w2 6
Total for 9 wkts (20) 136
Fall of wkts: 28, 46, 50, 93, 105, 124, 131, 131, 136.
Bowling: K Santokie 4-0-20-2, M Hafeez 4-0-26-1, J Franklyn 3-0-16-0, C Barnwell 1-0-9-0, V Permaul 4-0-32-3, S Narine 4-1-29-2.
Result: Guyana Amazon Warriors won by 19 runs.
Points: Warriors 2, Red Steel 0.
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