Hero CPL t20 cricket… Narine’s magical spell and Ramdin shine under lights

Jul 18, 2015 Sports

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Warriors get hard fought 3-wicket win over Zouks

By Sean Devers

The fans braved the rain and turned in the thousands for the first Hero CPL match in Guyana on Wednesday night and left disappointed without seeing a ball bowled but last night another sold out crowd left the Providence Stadium with smiles as broad as the mighty Essequibo River as their team beat the St Lucia Zouks by three wickets in an encounter they had to win to keep their semi-final hopes alive.
Led by a magical four-over spell from Man-of-the-Match off-spinner Sunil Narine (4-1-6-3) the Guyana Amazon Warriors restricted the Zouks to 111-7 from 20 overs although the two pacers, Merchant De Lance and Davis Wissee conceded 53 of those runs between them from seven overs.
Lendl Simmons (31 from 27 balls with 5 fours) and Denish Ramdin (39 not out from 43 balls with 3 fours) added 39 for the second wicket with sensible, but positive batting on a fast outfield which showed no effects from the battering it took from the rain over the last few days, but the Warriors eventually struggled to reach 112-7 from 18 overs as leg spinner Keron Cottoy bowled beautifully to capture 4-18 from four overs.
The win took the Warriors to 9 points from seven matches to move to second on the points table while the Zouks finished their quota of 10 matches with 9 points.
Earlier, the Warriors won the toss and asked the Zouks to bat on a slow and low straw-coloured track. Left-arm spinner Permaul was hit to the mid wicket boundary by Johnson Charles off the last ball of the first over which cost 5 runs. Andre Fletcher then hammered Merchant De Lange, who seemed lucky to retain his place in the side in spin friendly conditions, for two fours in an over that cost 10.
Permaul (4-0-19-1) continued to bowl well in conditions that suited spin before Skipper Kevin Pietersen majestically on-drove David Wissee to the boundary first ball, and took two more effortless fours in an expensive over from the fast bowler who were always expected to struggle on the Providence track.
With the score on 50-1 in the seventh over after Permaul’s frugal spell, spin wizard Narine was introduced and from his first over went to work right away, sending back the dangerous Fletcher, LBW for 15 at 49-2. It was 49-3 next ball when Delorn Johnson impetuously ‘skied’ the Trinidadian to mid-off to spark raucous celebrations among the dancing, flag waving fans in the stands.
Devendra Bishoo (4-0-19-0) replaced Permaul and bowling in tandem with Narine, strangled the opposition who found themselves in a deep hole when their Captain and most experienced batsman was LBW to Narine for a 21-ball 24 at 55-4 in the 10th over just when the South African-born former England Test batsman was beginning to look ominous. Pietersen failed to make the most of being badly dropped at cover by Umar Akmal on 16.
Hodge replaced Narine for one over and after being dumped for six by Kyle Mayers (7), the Bajan was taken on the boundary playing a slog sweep to leave the Zouks on 63-5 in the 12th over. But the experienced Ross Taylor and Davis added 43 for the sixth from seven overs before Taylor departed in the penultimate over for a ball a run 20 when he clipped a full toss from the expensive De Lange to leave the visitors on 106-6 in 19 overs after the stroking the South African for a couple of boundaries in the over. His second boundary in the over was a pull to fine leg from a high full toss which was called ‘no ball’ as De Lange strived for a yorker as he finished with 1-28 from three overs.
Natham Mcullum (1) was caught behind by Ramdin off Wissee in the final over which cost just five runs as Davids was left unbeaten on 25 from 34 balls.
Simmons got going with an audacious cover drive which reached the boundary like a bullet off the first ball of the innings from McCullum, while Fudadin, guilty of batting too slowly in the power-play overs, smashed to final ball from the opening over gloriously past cover for four and the Warriors supporters in the aisles were all smiles as they gyrated to the pulsating music pounding from the Hits & Jams Sound System in between overs.
Simmons steered Fidel Edwards to the third man boundary before whipping him neatly off his legs for another boundary and the close to 15,000 in the ground were on their feet.
Fudadin, making a consorted effort to bat in a positive manner to increase the net run rate, was taken at backward square, hooking at Johnson for five at 19-1 in the third over.
Ramdin leaned back and caressed Fidel Edwards magnificently to the point boundary while Simmons stroked Johnson for back-to-back boundaries and crowd, which remained loyal to their Franchise, created a sea of yellow and waved the Amazon flags passionately as they urged the Warriors on as the Warriors cheerleaders moved with plenty of energy.
Cottoy, the 25-year-old Vincentian struck four times and when Wissee was run out by a direct hit from mid-on for a duck and Narine was dismissed in similar fashion, the Zouks hopes had reignited and their injured Captain Darren Sammy was up from his seat in the ‘dug out’ and was pacing like an injured Lion.
Cottoy exploited the ‘slow turner’ wonderfully. He first had the set Simmons at 58-2 and then removed Hodge for a second ball duck without addition to the score.
Umar Akmal (7) was adjudged LBW by debutant Umpire Nandkumar Shivsankar but the TV replays confirmed there was a big inside edge involved but Cottoy was making things tight for the local Franchise.
And when Barnwell, who seems to be batting himself out of the team, missed a big drive at a google from Cottoy and was bowled for seven after dumping Shannon Gabriel for four and Wissee (0) and Narine (1) were both needlessly run out, it was 87-7 and the atmosphere at Providence was simply electric.
But the Captain kept his head and along with Permaul, who hit the winning six in the exciting contest, batted the Warriors to a victory they must have felt it would have been much easier at the half-way stage which showcased the rich Guyanese culture with Costume clad performers danced rhythmically round the ground.
Today from 16:00hrs, the Warriors face defending Champ Barbados Tridents, who lead the points table with 10 points.
Pos Team mat won lost tied NR net RR for against pts
1 Tridents 9 5 4 0 0 +0.126 1272/173.1 1279/177.1 10
2 Warriors 8 4 3 0 1 +0.713 968/128.4 916/134.3 9
3 Tallawahs 9 4 4 0 1 -0.427 1073/145.1 1251/160.0 9
4 Zouks 10 4 5 0 1 -0.679 1263/162.4 1275/151.0 9
5 Patriots 9 4 5 0 0 +0.358 1378/173.5 1259/166.2 8
6 Red Steel 7 3 3 0 1 -0.131 771/107.4 745/102.1 7

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