LED by a Man-of-the-Match performance from all-rounder Moeen Ali, Guyana Amazon Warriors beat Antigua Falcons by 17 runs at the Providence Stadium last night to take the Warriors to the top of the points table with 10 points from seven matches, and a place in the CPL playoffs.
Ali’s 33-ball 42 with three sixes and three fours, and 29 from Azam Khan made reaching the boundary once and clearing it twice the only scores higher than 15 as the Warriors fiddled with their top order and could only reach 135-7 when their 20 overs expired.

Mohammad Amir (2-15) and Imad Wasim (2-39) were the main wicket-takers for the Falcons, who were bowled out for 108 in 18.5 overs to lose by 17 runs, despite 27 from Kofi James, who hit three fours and a six from 23 balls.
Dwaine Pretorius (3-9), Ali (3-9) and skipper Imran Tahir (2-40) were the main wicket-takers for the defending champions.
Set 136 to win, the Patriots were 16-2 as Gudakesh Motie took his 11th wicket when he had Justin Greaves (5) stumped at 10-1 before Pretorius removed Brandon King (3).
Kofi James and Hassan Khan were staging a recovery, but with the score on 41, 45-year-old Tahir struck twice in the space of 13 runs when he dismissed Khan (10) and James (27) at 54-4.

Jamal Hamilton (12) was caught down the led side of Ali at 71-5 in the 12th over.
The Patriots lost two wickets at 76 before Joshua James and Skipper Chris Green, with a few big hits, brought the target to 36 from 18 balls.
Shamar Joseph bowled James (15) at 101-8, leaving 31 to get off 12 balls.
Pretorius removed Green (17) and Amir (0) in the penultimate over to give the Warriors victory with seven balls to spare.

Earlier, once again the Warriors rearranged their top order, and again this ploy failed to bear fruit.
Raymond Reifer and Khan were asked to open on a track that offered plenty of turn for the spinners, and prodigious lateral movement for left-arm pacer Amir.
Reifer missed five balls and hit the other back Amir, who started with a maiden.
Khan hit the first boundary off the 19th ball before Reifer faced 14 balls to get off the mark before playing a swipe off Amir; hitting a skier to point after making five at 14-9.

Motie (8) joined the burly Khan, and top-edged Imad Wasim to King at 33-2.
Khan (28) hit two massive sixes and a four before lofting Hassan Khan to long-off at 48-3 in 9.2 overs.
Shimron Hetymer, with two fifties under his belt, hit Hassan Khan for a couple of huge sixes to revive the expectation of a capacity turnout. At the end of the 10th over, the home side were 63-3.
With Hetmyer and Hope at the crease, the flag-waving fans anticipated something special from the Warriors’ most accomplished pair.

But Hetmyer (13) hit a full toss from leg-spinner Hayden Walsh to long-on to once again silence the home team’s supporters.
Ali was dropped on nine, and along with Hope kept hope alive by taking the score from 63-4, with Hope executing an imperious off-driven boundary off Fabian Allen.
But when on 15 and the total on 85, Hope was bowled by Wazim to bring Friday night’s saviour Romario Shepherd to the crease.

However, despite hitting a six, the Berbican could not reproduce his heroics from the previous night, and was taken in deep for 10 at 98-6.
Ali brought up 100 with an exquisite cover drive for four off Wasim, and celebrated by depositing the left-arm spinner for three sixes and a four in the over which cost 26.
The raucous crowd once again danced in the stands as Keemo Paul (10*) dumped Joshua James for six in the final over, while Ali was run out as the Warriors ended two runs less than they did against the Patriots.
The Warriors will play on Wednesday against the Barbados Royals from 19:00hrs at Providence.