Guyana Amazon Warriors 132 for 3 (Gurbaz 39, Hope 38*, Bidaisee 2-20) beat St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 128 (Athanaze 52, Nabi 4-17, Shepherd 3-16, Shamar Joseph 2-22) by seven wickets
It need not have been so dire for Patriots after their captain Jason Holder won the toss and opted to bat. There was a decent opening stand of 34 runs in just under four overs between Johnson Charles and Kyle Mayers, and after they were suddenly 39 for 3 inside the powerplay,
Alick Athanaze struck 52 in 39 balls from No. 4.
Till this point, Shepherd and Joseph had done all the wicket-taking, and Nabi joined the fun with Holder’s wicket in the ninth over, caught in the deep off a slog sweep. And Nabi had Patriots seven down in no time, getting rid of Wanindu Hasaranga (beaten on the reverse sweep to be bowled), Navin Bidaisee (bowled missing with his attempted cut), and Jeremiah Louis (leading edge back to the bowler). With Louis’ fall, Patriots were 114 for 8 in the 18th over, Joseph having accounted for the dangerous Dasun Shanaka in between. And it was 115 for 9 when Dwaine Pretorius bowled Ashmead Nedd in the 19th.
Athanaze hadn’t been able to break the shackles despite being around for 34 balls by this stage, having gotten to 41, but he took on Pretorius, taking him for a four and six, but Joseph came back for the last over to send Athanaze back and finish the innings with four balls left.
The target was just 129. It wasn’t likely to test Amazon Warriors, on a roll this season and playing at home, and it didn’t. Gurbaz was very much the aggressor as Amazon Warriors got to 58 in the powerplay, nearly half the target already taken care of, before being the first to be dismissed, in the sixth over for a 25-ball 39.
Mavendra Dindyal didn’t have his best day, scratching his way to 17 in 16 balls before becoming the second to be dismissed, and Bidaisee, who sent back Dindyal, had Shimron Hetmyer’s number soon after, and Amazon Warriors were 78 for 3 in the 11th.
Hope and Nabi, though, controlled the chase from there on, with almost zero scoreboard pressure to affect them. There was no need to hurry, and they didn’t. Hope, in fact, got his unbeaten 38 from 44 balls, hitting just three fours. Nabi was somewhat quicker, hitting two fours and a six as he got to 25 in 21 balls before the job was done.
The only criticism for Amazon Warriors might be that they didn’t do their net run-rate the good they could have when faced with such a low target, but with six wins out of six, they might not need to bother with such calculations.