Tuesday 21st July 2015 – Providence, Guyana
The Guyana Amazon Warriors brushed aside the Trinidad and Tobago Red
Steel in the Hero Caribbean Premier League thanks to a brilliant innings of 65
not out from Lendl Simmons and four wickets from Marchant De Lange. The
Guyanese spinners also played their part as they restricted the Red Steel to
just 117-8 off their 20 overs. The Red Steel really struggled to come to terms
with the slow nature of the Providence
pitch as the Amazon Warriors made full use of home advantage to secure second
place in the table.
The Red Steel won the toss and chose to bat first. While all of the talk
ahead of this fixture was about how well the spin bowlers would perform on this
dry Providence
surface, it was quick man Marchant De Lange that collected the hugely important
wicket of Jacques Kallis. The South African all-rounder edged the ball behind
to the keeper for just three runs.
Javon Searles came in at first drop but he never really got going as he
made it to six off nine balls before he too fell to the bowling of De Lange,
caught off a leading edge in the covers. De Lange claimed his third wicket
when, in-form batsman, Darren Bravo edged a lifting delivery through to the
keeper.
While there were wickets falling at the other end, Cameron Delport was
putting together a hugely important innings. While none of the top order got
into double figures or managed a strike rate of over a run a ball, Delport made
44 runs off 30 balls. He lost his wicket in unlikely fashion when he attempted
to cut the part time spin of Brad Hodge through the off side only to be well
caught by Simmons.
With Delport’s departure the Red Steel run rate plummeted, scoring at
just four an over in the aftermath of his dismissal. After a first over that
went for nine runs, Sunil Narine returned brilliantly as the rest of his spell
cost just eight runs. He combined with his fellow spinners, Devendra Bishoo and
Veerasammy Permaul, as they choked the Red Steel innings.
The only man to join Delport with a double figure score was Johan Botha
who made 22 runs from 33 balls before he chopped the ball on to his stumps off
Bishoo. De Lange returned for the final over and picked up his fourth wicket, a
stunning performance on a pitch that didn’t suit his bowling as the Red Steel
set a target of 118.
The Red Steel’s efforts to defend that total could have got off to the
best possible start. Simmons drove the ball in the air off Derone Davis and it
should have been caught by Dwayne Bravo but the ball burst through his fingers.
Simmons punished the Red Steel straight away by striking seven boundaries
inside the Powerplay, including one massive six that smashed the press box
windows.
While Simmons was going brilliantly, at the other end Assad Fudadin was
finding scoring very difficult. At the end of the six over Powerplay the Amazon
Warriors were 47-0 and Fudadin had just six of those runs. Luckily for
Fudadin, Simmons was taking all the pressure off him as he made his highest
score of this season's Hero CPL.
Simmons appeared to get lucky again when, on 43, a ball that looped into
the hands of Botha was adjudged to be a bump ball when the replays suggested
otherwise.
Fudadin was eventually out when he pull a ball off Dwayne Bravo to Kevon
Cooper at mid-wicket. He had made nine runs out of a partnership of 54. Denesh
Ramdin came in at the fall of the first wicket, but he too struggled to get
going. He had made just five when he was stumped off a wide from Johan Botha.
As with Delport in the Red Steel innings, Simmons was struggling to find
someone that could keep him company. That problem was solved when, T20 veteran,
Brad Hodge arrived at the crease. His 33 was the perfect foil for Simmons
efforts as the Amazon Warriors got home with 18 balls to spare.
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