Shimron Hetmyer scored the first half-century of the 2021 Hero CPL season as the Guyana Amazon Warriors defeated defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders by nine runs at Warner Park, St Kitts on Thursday (August 26).

The Knight Riders won the toss and put the Amazon Warriors into bat and despite Hetmyer’s 54, they were able to restrict their opponents to 142-7.

However, the Amazon Warriors were to produce an even better bowling performance taking wickets at regular intervals to get their campaign off to a winning start.

The Amazon Warriors began their innings well with Chandrapaul Hemraj striking two sixes but he was caught at short third man once Sunil Narine entered the attack.

The Amazon Warriors then sprung a surprise with the hard-hitting Odean Smith entering at number three to maximise the PowerPlay overs. Smith justified his promotion with 24 runs from 15 balls but once he fell the Amazon Warriors innings lost impetus leaving them struggling at the halfway stage on 57-3.

When Isuru Udana removed Shoaib Malik for a laboured two runs from 12 balls and Akeal Hosein got rid of Mohammed Hafeez shortly afterwards it looked as if Guyana had given themselves too much to do.
Captain Nicholas Pooran walked in at a surprising number seven with five overs remaining and tried to up the ante with Shimron Hetmyer but Pooran then fell to a stunning Darren Bravo in-out-in catch on the boundary.

Vice-captain Hetmyer had anchored the innings throughout the flurry of wickets and he cashed in at the death with some lusty blows to score the first 2021 Hero CPL 50 and ensure Guyana ended on a tricky total to chase.
Despite losing the wickets of Lendl Simmons and Colin Munro in the PowerPlay the Knight Riders were ahead of the game at the end of the 6 overs.

The turning point came with the introduction of Imran Tahir as he removed both Sunil Narine and Bravo in quick succession and the Amazon Warriors then continued to take wickets at regular intervals.

Smith put the game in the balance when he forced Tim Seifert into a false shot to leave the Knight Riders on 78-5 after 12 overs and it was to go from bad to worse for the Knight Riders when Romario Shepherd got Kieron Pollard to nick behind to Pooran for two runs.

Late hitting from Dinesh Ramdin kept the Knight Riders in the game but when he fell to a smart catch from Malik all hope was lost.

Winning captain Nicholas Pooran said the team was focused on getting the season off to a good start.

“I don’t win tosses but toss doesn’t decide results. That said, we wanted to start the season well since TKR are a good team. It was tough for us at the beginning, but we fought till the end,” said Pooran, praised Hetmyer and Smith for the crucial roles they played in the victory.

“Hetty played well, as did Odean Smith. We thought if Odean plays he may bat at No. 8 but in the Power Play we thought he can do something at No. 3. On a track like this, our spinners did well, and we kept staying in the game with the wickets. Bit disappointed with our last over with the ball.”

Pollard, meanwhile, believed his team did not play well enough to win.

“I thought we gave them too many runs, dropped a few catches at the back end. Then we lost wickets in clusters,” he said.

“Only have ourselves to blame for not getting over the line. We were right in the game despite how the wicket might have played. Positives are we bowled well for 18 overs, Ramdin and Seifert had a good batting day.”

Scores: Guyana Amazon Warriors 142-7 (Hetmyer 54, O Smith 24; Shepherd 3-14, Odean Smith 2-10) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 133-9 (Ramdin 28, Siefert 24; Narine 2-17, Hosein 2-17) by 9 runs.