By Rajiv Bisnauth

THE Guyana Amazon Warriors capped off their HERO Caribbean Premier League (CPL) home fixtures on a happy note, beating St Lucia Zouks by eight wickets last evening at the National Stadium, Providence.The crowd of over 10,000 certainly got their money’s worth after the home team first restricted the visitors to 138-6, and then easily reached the target in the 18th over.
The Warriors never found the going tough, and put on a superb run chase after Jason Mohammed and Chris Lynn continued their purple patches with sublime knocks.
Man-of-the-Match, Mohammed smashed his way to 43 off 29 balls, inclusive of a single four and four sixes while Lynn stroked 38 off 29 balls with a four and two sixes.
At the start of the game all speculation regarding the exclusion of Christopher Barnwell was laid to rest after the Warriors opted to field an unchanged team.
However, the visitors had got off to an awkward start after being put in under lights.
A double blow in the first over bowled by left-arm pacer, Sohail Tanvir (2-31) left the Zouks a start that really doesn’t merit any strong adjective.
Openers Johnson Charles and Shane Watson were sent packing in the space of three deliveries, with Charles holding out to mid-off without scoring while Watson, who got going with an extra cover boundary, was caught behind, the visitors with two new batsmen having to get settled on a tricky surface.
One of those was Michael Hussey, a veteran of 153 games together with Andre Fletched, as the tourists mustered only 28 runs in the powerplay.
Adam Zampa’s spell was eventful. Fletcher (16) was trapped leg before wicket to give the leg-spinner his first wicket, and the Warriors their third scalp. At half way through the innings, the Zouks could only hit their way to three boundaries.
However, the left-handed, Hussey then broke the boundary drought, hitting Zampa for his second four in the 12th over before David Miller got hisinnings going with the first six two overs later also off the leg-spinner.
The experienced duo brought up the three figures, with Hussey reaching his half century off 39 balls, with three consecutive boundaries off Rayad Emrit in the 16th over which yielded 18 runs.
But Zampa (2-30) signed off by having Miller caught at deep mid-wicket for a 22-ball 23.
Darren Sammy joined Hussey and the pair took a liking to Tanvir, with the West Indies T20 captain smashing consecutive fours while the Australian helped himself with his seventh, , an over which cost 18 runs.
Both batsmen then lobbed catches straight down the ground after being deceived by Emrit’s change of pace in the penultimate over, with the visitors managed 54 runs in the last five overs.
Martin Guptill lofted left-arm spinner Delorn Davis for a straight six to get the run chase going, but Sammy spilled two relatively easy chances, allowing Guptill and fellow opener Dwayne Smith to manufacture a healthy run rate to finish the Powerplay with the Warriors 46 without loss.
Soon after Davis returned for a second spell, and immediately jolted the home team strong start with the wicket of Guptill for a 22-ball 19.
Sensing the opportunity, off-spinner Shane Shillingford was pressed into service and he too provided his side with a crucial breakthrough, removing Smith a 24-ball 32.
Chris Lynn and Jason Mohammed continued the onslaught, putting on 81 in 9.2 overs which eventually guided them over the line with 14 balls available.
The Warriors will now move to Jamaica where they will play the Tallawahs on Friday.