– Warriors to victory in Super Over

Regulation game ended in tie

INSPIRED by the bowling of the mysterious Sunil Narine, host Guyana Amazon Warriors defeated Red Steel by 11 runs in a Super Over contest, when the two sides met in the fifth match of this year’s Limacol Caribbean Premier League at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence last night.After seeing fast bowler Ronsford Beaton claim 2 for 15 backed by Narine’s 2 for 23, which rocked the Red Steel and reduced them to 118 for 8 off their 20 overs, the home team on the back of Man-of-the-Match Christopher Barnwell’s aggressive 37 and 32 from Lendl Simmons, finished on 118 for 9 off their 20 overs.
Asked to do battle in a Super Over to decide a winner, the Guyana Amazon Warriors started positively with Barnwell dispatching the first ball from Kevon Cooper for six to send a partisan near packed to capacity home crowd in frenzy, as the Amazon Warriors ended on 11 for 1.
Narine then stepped up to the plate and showed the Guyanese public the bowling that has been mesmerising batsmen around the world, sending down four dot balls to Nicholas Pooran before he holed out the fifth one to Martin Guptil at long off, to seal off the game for the Guyana Amazon Warriors.
Earlier in the contest, Denesh Ramdin called correctly and asked the visitors to take first strike, a move that paid dividend as they were reduced to 34 for 4, losing the wickets of Nasir Jamshed (01), Ross Taylor (01), and brothers Darren and Dwayne Bravo for 1 and 3 respectively in that order.
Opener Evin Lewis who top scored with 39 (51balls, 2×6, 1×4) pushed the score to 64 in partnership with Kevin O’Brien (19), before Lewis was caught by Jimmy Neesham off Narine, enabled Pooran to join O’Brien and they pushed the Red Steel over the 100 run mark in the 18th over.
Pooran, who made a quick-fire 37 off 17 balls with three sixes and two fours, seemed set to thrill the crowd in a similar manner as he did last year, before Neesham held his offer off Krishmar Santokie at 111 for 6 in the penultimate over.
Two wickets by Beaton in the final over underlined the fight back shown by the Guyana Amazon Warriors, who in their turn at the wicket were wobbling at 56 for 6 in reply, losing Martin Guptil (04), Mohammed Hafeez (00), Ramdin (04), debutant Leon Johnson (01), Neesham (07) and Simmons.
Up to that stage, Simmons was the leading scorer for the Amazon Warriors with his 32 being scored off 25 deliveries with three fours and one six, struck over backward squareleg off the fiery Fidel Edwards (2 for 29) who saw Samuel Badree and Suleiman Benn catapult the home team’s innings.
Badree ended with 3 for 18 from his four overs, one of which was a maiden and the lone one of the contest, while Benn took 1 for 29, but when their spell ended, Barnwell stepped into overdrive in the same way Lewis Hamilton would in a F1 race.
He launched Cooper back over his head for 6 off the first ball of the 19th over, before chipping one straight to O’Brien at long-on, with Guyana Amazon Warriors 14 away from victory and when Santokie (03) was run out by Cooper, whose throw to Pooran found him short, the Warriors needed 9 off three balls, with Beaton strolling to the wicket to partner Veerasammy Permaul.
The beanpole Beaton who was born in Monsteratt, steered the first delivery from Dwayne Bravo to third man for four and got two off the next delivery, bringing the equation to three off the final delivery, for which himself and Permaul got two after Pooran dropped a dolly, sending the game into the Super Over.

Scorecard
Red Steel Innings
E Lewis c Neesham b Narine 39
N Jamshed run out (Santokie) 01
R Taylor c Guptil b Hafeez 01
DM Bravo c Santokie b Narine 01
DJ Bravo c Ramdin b Permaul 03
K O’Brien b Beaton 19
N Pooran c Neesham b Santokie 37
K Cooper not out 03
S. Benn b Beaton 01
Extras (w6, b4, lb3)13
Total: (for 8 wickets off 20 overs) 118
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-15, 3-26, 4-34, 5-64, 6-111, 7-116, 8-118
Did not bat: S Badree F Edwards
Bowling: Hafeez 4-0-11-1 Santokie 4-0-29-1 Narine 4-0-23-2 (w1) Beaton 4-0-15-2 (w1) Permaul 3-0-24-1 (w2) Neesham 1-0-9-0 (w1)

Guyana Amazon Warriors Innings
L Simmons b Benn 32
M Guptil lbw b Edwards 04
M Hafeez lbw b Badree 00
D Ramdin c Pooran b Cooper 04
L Johnson lbw b Badree 01
J Neesham stp Pooran b Badree 07
C Barnwell c O’Brien b Cooper 37
S Narine c DJ Bravo b Edwards 16
V Permaul not out 03
K Santokie run out (Cooper/Pooran) 03
R Beaton not out 08
Extras (w1, lb1 b1) 03
Total (for 9 wickets off 20 overs) 118
Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-27, 3-32, 4-35, 5-43, 6-56, 7-100, 8-105, 9-110
Bowling: Edwards 4-0-29-2 Benn 4-0-29-1 (w1) Badree 4-1-18-3 Cooper 4-0-19-2 DJ Bravo 4-0-21-0

(By Calvin Roberts)