IT is said that when night falls, the stars come out to shine and last night at the Providence Stadium it was South African pacer, Dwaine Pretorius, who shone the brightest in the inaugural match of the five-team Guyana Global T20 league.
Pretorius bagged 4-21 after taking 4-1 in the penultimate over to reduce Lahore Qalandars from 122-6 to 125 in 19.2 overs.
He got support from Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Hassan Khan who had two wickets each.
Tom Abell hit two fours and six in 48 from 45 balls but only Adam Rossington’s 25 with three fours and two sixes reached double figures.
Shai Hope, unbeaten on 45 with two fours and two sixes from 43 balls shared in an unbroken 32-run fifth wicket stand from 22 balls with Keemo Paul who ended on 27 from 13 balls, saw the Warriors to 129-4 from 17.5 overs
Asif Afridi had 2-13 for the visitors who lost by six wickets.
A good size crowd watched as the Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) invited Lahore Qalandars to bat on a track that favoured the bowlers.
Mirza Baig (5) got going with a boundary but was lbw to Tanzim Hasan Shakibi in the same over to leave the score on 13-1 in the fifth over.
Rossington hit the 35-year-old Pretorius for six before being floored by one that cut back from Hassan Khan that struck him in his stomach.
Rossington responded by pulling Khan over mid-wicket for six while stroking three well-hit boundaries before the Englishman was dismissed by Khan for a 19-ball 25 at 35-2 in the fifth over.
Mohammad Faizan (9) run out was the next wicket to fall just after the 50 was posted from 40 balls.
Abell and Luke Wells carried the 69-3 at the halfway stage as the Warriors pulled things back on a fast outfield.
When 45-year-old Skipper Imran Tahir removed Wells (11) at 84-4 and spread his wings to fly, the raucous fans in the stands were on their feet.
The 100 came up off 82 balls before Muhammad Akhlaq (8) fell to Khan before Pretorius engineered a dramatic collapse which saw the Pakistan franchise crashing from 105-4 to 122-9.
The pacer had four wickets for two runs in the penultimate over after removing Abell at 121-6.
Pretorius then got rid of Captain Carlos Brathwaite (9), Faheem Ashraf (1) and Asif Afridi for a duck.
Salman Mirza (2) then fell to Sakib as Lahore Qalandars lost their last five batters for four runs.
The Warriors started inauspiciously when Trinidadian Mark Dyal, one of the new faces in the South American franchise, departed for one at 3-1 in the first over from left-arm speedster Salman Mirza who soon Moin Ali (17) to leave the home team on 35-2 in five over.
Ali’s demise brought the talented Guyanese Shimron Hetmyer to join Hope and after the six-over power-play, the Warriors were 38-2.
Before he had scored and the score on 39-2, Hetymer missed a wild swipe off Wells but survived the appeal for stumping.
Hetmyer hit the next ball into the crowd who were dancing to the pulsating rhythms from the DJ and the 50 was soon posted off 54 balls.
The West Indies pair took the score to 57-2 after 10 overs leaving them to get 69 from 60 balls to win.
Hope deposited Wells for consecutive sixes and the Warriors’ cheerleaders were gyrating with delight.
While the 34-year-old left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, with 319 wickets from 282 T20s, befuddled the batters from the southern end, it was Afridi, who made the breakthrough.
Attempting an almighty swing, Hetmyer missed the first ball from Afridi and was bowled for 14 at 76-3.
The left-arm spinner also bowled Roston Chase, who hit a four and six in a cameo 15 from eight balls to the hosts 96-4 in the 15th over.
Paul survived an LBW shout on ‘Umpires’ Call’ off Shamsi but in the end, Hope and Paul saw the Warriors home with their unbroken fifth wicket stand.
The first stand-alone tournament was launched after speeches from Sir Clive and Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali while a fantastic fireworks display preceded the opening game.