Amazon Warriors trounce Qalandars in opener

Nov 27, 2024 Sports

ExxonMobil Global Super League…

Amazon Warriors trounce Qalandars in opener

Shai Hope (Getty Images) (Amazon Warriors trounce Qalandars)

Kaieteur Sports- The Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) treated their fans to an opening victory over Lahore Qalandars in the inaugural ExxonMobil Global Super League, which commenced last evening at the Providence National Stadium.

Warriors settled the nerves to cruise to a comfortable 7-wicket win after winning the toss and giving the opposition the first strike. Qalanders were restricted to 125, four balls short of their allotted 20 overs. The host team was able to chalk up 129 – 4 in 17.5 overs, compliments of a terrific innings from Shai Hope.

Mark Deyal (1) was dismissed on the fifth ball of the chase by Salman Mirza owing to poor shot selection with the score on three. Hope and Moeen Ali (17) then moved modestly through the powerplay but the latter was removed by Mirza with one over left in it. GAW were 38-2 after six overs.

Shimron Hetmyer (14) joined Hope and took a firmer grip on the chase, adding 41 runs for the third wicket before Asif Afridi bowled the left-hander as the score ticked over to 76 – 3. Afridi impacted the game once more with the removal of Roston Chase (15); the Warriors were 96 – 4.

Keemo Paul arrived with GAW needing 30 from 33 deliveries with Hope on his way to another T20 half-century. Paul’s cameo of 27 from 13 propelled the GAW over the line with 13 balls remaining and Hope was unbeaten at the other end on 45.

Earlier in the evening, the two teams emerged from a balanced powerplay as Qalandars tallied 47-2 from the first six overs. Tanzim Sakib drew first blood when he trapped the opening batsman, Miraz Baig (5), leg before wicket in the second over with the score on 13.

Baig’s partner, Adam Rossington, tried to accelerate the scoring after that alongside new batsman, Mohammad Faizan, and struck three fours and two maximums but was halted by Hassan Khan on 25 as he held out to Dwaine Pretorious at long-on.

Tom Abell joined Faizan (9) with the score on 35 and they were able to motor past the 50-run mark, where the latter suffered a runout following an excellent bit of fielding from the wicketkeeper, Hope.

New batter Luke Wells (11) had a short stay, falling lbw to skipper Imran Tahir while Abell continued to resist the Amazon Warriors spinners through the middle phase of the innings.

Tahir ended his spell that yielded 1-25 at the 13th over as Qalandars climbed to 87 – 4. Into the final five overs, LQ were 102-4 with Abell steadily approaching a half-century and immediately lost Muhammad Akhlaq (8) to Khan at the other end.

With the need to accelerate from the penultimate over, Abell (48) went big on the first ball but found Keemo Paul just short of the midwicket boundary.

Two balls later, Carlos Brathwaite (9) fell, followed by Asif Afridi (0) the next ball to put Pretorious on a hat-trick. He was denied the milestone but Faheem Ashraf became the fourth wicket to fall in the over, which cost only two runs.

The end of the implosion came in the final over when Mirza skied one from Sakib and was caught, as the final four wickets fell for 5 runs.

(Amazon Warriors trounce Qalandars in opener)

Amazon Warriors, ExxonMobil Global Super League, Lahore Qalandars, Providence National Stadium

Latest News