Hero CPL T20 Cricket... Warriors buckle under pressure

Hero CPL T20 Cricket… Warriors buckle under pressure

Jul 19, 2015 Sports

Kieron Pollard was devastated after being clean bowled by Veerasammy Permaul at National Stadium Providence Guyana. (CPL)

Defending Champs maintain lead with 14-run win

By Sean Devers

Urged on by another sell-out crowd, the Guyana Amazon Warriors, chasing 126 from 120 balls to win to move to the top of the table and book a place in the semi-finals of the Hero CPL T20 Cricket tournament, buckled under pressure and fell 15 runs short of victory against the Barbados Tridents, who maintained their lead in the tournament with 12 points from their full quota of 10 matches.
South African medium pacer David Weise ripped out five Tridents batsman for 35 runs from four impressive overs and Devendra Bishoo claimed 2-23 to limit the visitors 125-9. Only Jason Holder (30) and Rayad Emrit (22) reaching 20 in a valuable 45-run seventh partnership which rescued their team from 65-6 in the 13th over.
But baffling tactics by the Warriors, who removed Assad Fudadin (who did not bat at all) from the opening spot, replacing his with 40-year-old Brad Hodge, who had been doing a wonderful job at number four and the inability of form batsman Lendl Simmons, who struggled with his timing at during the ‘power-play’ overs meant the Warriors, who wasted 61 dot balls (more than half of their overs) were always behind and limped to 111-6 when their overs expired.
Simmons (15 from 31) and Hodge (27 from 28) put together 43 for the first wicket but they took 10 overs to do so and faced 32 dot balls and when they fell in the space of three runs with Simmons going to stupendous catch at backward point by Imran Khan off Skipper Kieron Pollard, who picked up 4-30, the local Franchise were making reaching the target as hard a turtle climbing Mount Roraima, Guyana’s highest mountain.

David Wiese captured 5 wickets against the Tridents at National Stadium Providence Guyana. (CPL)

Despite the overwhelming crowd support, the required run rate kept climbing with every dot ball as some brainless wild swings by especially Christopher Barnwell (24 from 13) and Weise rarely resulted in willow connecting with leather with 43 needed from 18 balls and only Barnwell, who hit the first ball of the last over for six before his stumps were rattled by Pollard, had a three-figure strike rate but he wasted too many balls trying to swipe and his effort was too little too late.
The top five batsmen all got into double figures but failed to make any meaningful score chasing a relatively small total on a lightning fast ground and a pitched which played much better than the night before when the Warriors struggled to win, chasing 112 made by the Zouks.
Emrit (1-20) with the new ball and left-arm spinner Robin Peterson (0-16) who shared it with him were frugal as were Khan (1-22) and Ravi Rampaul (0-23) as the Warriors were kept in shackles throughout their innings which never went into second gear.
Barnwell and Umar Akmal (20 from 22) both hit two fours and a six were the only players in Green and Gold to hit the ball over the boundary much to disappointment of the noisy, flag waving fans in the stands who were eagerly waiting on an opportunity to earn US$1,000 if they took a one-handed catch.
The tridents, led by arguably the best Captain in the tournament, won the toss and elected to bat on a track with a tinge of green but Wiese removed both openers to leave the score on 30-2 with the dangerous Dwayne Smith, who scored a brutal unbeaten 104 against the Warriors last year, going to a brilliant catch on the boundary by Akmal.
Weise took another wicket when Jonathon Carter (7) edged to Ramdin, while Bishoo removed Misbah-ul-Haq (6) and Peterson (13) and Permaul bowled Pollard (2) with the ball of the match as the danced down the track and got himself into a tangle, the defending champ were wobbling on the ropes on 65-6.
But even though Holder and Emrit offered a late order rally, the Tridents’ total looked inadequate at the half-way stage.
But the Warrior’s woeful batting display, astute leadership by Pollard and excellent bowling by his team, ensured the Warriors remained on 9 points for 9 matches. But with one match remaining against the Red Steel on Tuesday, they are still second on the points table due to their superior net run rate.
The Red Steel are on 9 points from 8 games and the Jamaica Tallawahs on 9 from 9. Both the Zouks (9 points) and the Patriots (8 points) have completed their 10 matches with the Patriots no longer in contention for the CLP title.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, an excellent performance from Darren Bravo with the bat and from Dwayne Bravo with the ball has seen the Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel defeat the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the Hero Caribbean Premier League. Darren Bravo made a superb 40 runs off just 15 balls to set up a very challenging target. Brother Dwayne then collected three wickets for just 15 runs as the Patriots chase looked to be on and then fell away.
Scores: Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel (134-5) beat St Kitts and Nevis Patriots (123-7) by 18 runs (Duckworth Lewis Stern Method) – Match reduced to 14 overs per side.