Latest update December 11th, 2024 1:33 AM
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CPL T20 cricket: Darren Bravo’s last ball six give Red Steel sensational win over Amazon Warriors
Darren Bravo
It came down to final ball with Trinidad &Tobago Red Steel needing to clear the boundary to give the home team victory against the Guyana Amazon Warriors last night at the Queens Park Oval in the Limacol CPL T20 which touched down in the Twin Island Republic.
Ronsford Beaton, an inexperienced 21 year-old fast bowler from Essequibo in Guyana was tasked with the responsibility of bowling the final over with a capacity crowd of 25,000 fans all on their feet. This was the biggest stage Beaton had played on and the pressure was nerve wrecking.
As Beaton began to run in to bowl to Darren Bravo, the raucous crowd roared in anticipation of something special; Bravo responded by depositing a length ball on off stump high over deep midwicket for a colossal hit. It was a gigantic hit out of the ground and maybe landed in the Caribbean Sea.
But cared? The shot give the Red Steel an exhilarating four-wicket victory to send the Trini fans into uncontrollable ecstasy and send the 11 Warriors on the field, their few thousand supporters in the stands and the thousands watching the match live on Television, hopes crashing.
After the horrifying start to the innings, Skipper Denish Ramdin and Jimmy Neesham provided the impetus needed to propel the Warriors from a pedestrian start to a challenging score of 179-5. Ramdin played a knock of his life, clearing the boundary six sixes whilst hitting the boundary boards a similar amount of times in a stunning 45 ball 84.
Ramdin shared in a century partnership with Neesham (33*). Lindl Simmons (24) and a quick-fire 23 from eight balls from Christopher Barnwell pushed the Warriors to what at that point seemed a good enough total on a relatively small ground.
Needing 180 for an improbable win, or so it seemed, Red Steel started pretty poorly before the Bravo brothers set the ‘Oval’ on fire with a brutal onslaught of clinical hitting in their match winning record 131-run fourth wicket partnership.
The elder Bravo led from the front with a scintillating 67 from 42 balls (3×6 6×4) before he was taken by Barnwell, who had dropped him earlier to give Neesham the crucial break through. But his younger sibling remained to the ended with an unbeaten 69 from 49 balls (5×6 5×4) including the last one that caused total pandemonium at the Oval.
The last over began with nine needed after Krishmar Santokie had conceded 11 in the 19th over and removed the dangerous Nicholas Pooran for a nine ball 16. After conceding just three runs for five balls Beaton and the entire Guyana must have felt that the Warriors would have prevailed after the thrilling Tie in Guyana which resulted in victory in the Super Over by the home team.
But on a ground on which Shiv Chanderpaul hit six off the last ball against Chimida Vass to give the West Indies a pulsating win, Bravo gathered his nerves and swung hard and high to finish a fantastic match in sensational style.
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