South African Hashim Amla continued his impressive batting on Sunday night, to get the Trinbago Knight Riders back on track in the 2016 Hero CPL T20 tournament, with a seven-run win over the Guyana Amazon Warriors at the Providence Stadium, Guyana.
Amla scored his third half century in five innings to lead TKR to 151 for four in their 20 overs and the bowlers then stifled the opposition to 144 for nine in return. The Knight Riders now have two wins from five matches and will be on the road for their remaining matches in the tournament.
A target of 152 on a slow turning track was always going to be a challenge for the Warriors and their situation was made worse by the removal of opener Dwayne Smith in the first over by Anton Devcich playing his first match.The Guyanese struggled in the 'powerplay' period, as Dwayne Bravo's men strangled them.
Skipper Martin Guptill held the innings together but could not break the shackles.He lost Australian Chris Lynn for a quickfire 21 of 18 balls with four fours, also to Devcich.The normally free flowing Guptill had to consolidate and found an able ally in Jason Mohammed.
They added 38 valuable runs in 5.5 overs however the loss of Mohammed for 19 was a major setback.Guptill then changed gears and slammed a total of four sixes and reached his half century of 39 balls.
Soon after he would fall to the cunning Bravo for 50 and Guyana was left needing 30 runs from the final two overs. Veersammy Permaul slammed two fours and a six to bring it down to 14 in the last over but Kevon Cooper held his nerve to secure the vital win.
Earlier, Amla was beautiful on a pitch that made timing the ball difficult.He stood as a beacon amongst the others and forged many useful partnerships along the way to take his team to a fighting score.
After losing Devcich early on, he and the inform Colin Munroe took the score to 70 in the 12th over to set up the innings for a blast towards the end, which came from skipper Dwayne Bravo.
Amla was finally dismissed for 64 of 54 balls with six fours and Bravo hammered away for 25 of eight balls with three sixes and a four.
SCOREBOARD
TKR vs Warriors
TKR inns
H Amla b Zampa 64
A Devcich c Mohammed b Emrit 7
C Munroe c & b Permaul 18
U Akmal not out 23
D Bravo b Emrit 25
D Ramdin not out 9
Extras 4w, 1lb 5
Total for 4 wkts (20ovs) 151
Fall of wkts: 28, 70, 113, 139.
Bowling: S Tanvir 4-0-34-0, S Jacobs 4-0-23-0, R Emrit 4-0-32-2, A Zampa 4-0-32-1, V Permaul 4-0-29-1.
Warriors inns
D Smith c Akmal b Devcich 0
M Guptill c Cooper b Bravo 50
C Lynn c Cooper b Devcich 21
J Mohammed c Ramdin b Bravo 19
A Bramble b Benn 4
S Tanvir b Narine 1
C Barnwell c Akmal b Cooper 10
R Emrit c Cooper b Narine 12
V Permaul c Devcich b Cooper 18
S Jacobs not out 4
A Zampa not out 0
Extras 1lb, 4w 5
Total for 9 wkts (20ovs) 144
Fall of wkts: 0, 25, 63, 75, 78, 102, 121, 122, 149.
Bowling: A Devcich 4-0-17-2, K Cooper 3-0-33-2, S Benn 4-0-25-1, Y Carriah 1-0-10-0, D Bravo 4-0-33-2, S Narine 4-0-25-2.
LATEST STANDINGS
Team P W L T NR NRR PTS
Amazon Warriors 5 4 1 0 0 8 +0.476
Tallawahs 3 2 1 0 0 4 +0.042
TKR 5 2 3 0 0 4 -0.160
Tridents 2 1 1 0 0 2 +0.105
Patriots 5 1 4 0 0 2 +0.068
Zouks 2 1 1 0 0 2 -1.236