QUALIFIER 2 – Guyana Amazon Warriors vs Jamaica Tallawahs
During the group stage matches the head-to-head between these teams was 1 win each. Now they faced each other one more time to fight for a place in the final. Jamaica Tallawahs, who come into this match with some confidence after winning their previous Eliminator fixture and the Guyana Amazon Warriors who were looking at taking advantage of their home conditions.
The Warriors won the toss and chose to field first. Their captain Shimron Hetmyer mentioned that the fresh wicket along with dew was the reason behind his decision. Regarding the teams’ starting eleven, the Warriors had Paul Stirling coming in for Chandrapaul Hemraj whereas the Tallawahs remained unchanged.
Brandon King came onto the crease with Kennar Lewis on the other end to open for the Tallawahs. Romario Shepherd opened the bowling attack for the Warriors. The initial breakthrough came very early for the Warriors, by the end of the first over, when Shepherd got Lewis caught and bowled as he got a leading edge trying to play towards mid-on. Shamarh Brooks, who then came onto the crease to replace him, started off well with a boundary behind but got a life the next ball when keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz dropped a simple catch. Couple of balls later, King was also dismissed as he was caught out by Odean Smith off Shepherd’s bowling again. Captain Powell then came on, to partner alongside Brooks. Together they managed to get past the powerplay without losing a further wicket and hitting boundaries from time to time. It was an eventful powerplay as there was a review lost, a dropped catch from the Warriors and the Tallawahs scoring 37 for the loss of 2 wickets. The partnership then started to blossom as they went on to score a vital 50-run partnership which was much needed to stabilize the team. The partnership was broken in an eventful 9th over when captain Powell was caught out by Gurbaz from an Odean Smith delivery after the keeper reviewed the decision and got it overturned. The over also had 15 runs come off it with 2 no balls. Raymon Reifer was the next batsman in and along with Brooks took the Tallawahs to 85/3 after 10 overs. Brooks now was looking good as he went on to score a 50 off 34 balls and was well supported by Reifer at the other end as they bagged another 50-run partnership in the 15th over. In the following over, Reifer had to depart after being dismissed by Imran Tahir for an LBW. In stepped the left-handed batsman Imad Wasim. It was an absolute cracker for the remaining part of the innings as Brooks and Wasim joined forces to create fireworks by hitting boundaries for fun. The duo not only reached a 50-run partnership in just 20 deliveries in the 18th over but went on to get an unbeaten 103 partnership by the end of the innings. There was another special finish for the Tallawahs, as Brooks played a classy drive for a four through extra cover and removed his helmet with a big smile to celebrate his maiden CPL century. He made most of the chances given, playing a classy knock and along with Wasim’s 41 off 15 balls, helped Tallawahs score a massive 226/4.
The Warriors’ openers Gurbaz and Stirling came on to the crease with the pressure of chasing down a huge target of 227. Mohammad Amir started the bowling attack for the Tallawahs. He quickly picked up Stirling’s wicket in the 3rd over with Mohammad Nabi taking a simple catch at the mid-wicket region. Shai hope started his innings well with couple of boundaries. Unfortunately for the Tallawahs, Amir had to leave the pitch due to a groin issue and Reifer came in to bowl the last ball of Amir’s over. Fabian Allen came into bowl the 5th over and it looked like the batsmen targeted him immediately, scoring 17 runs off the first 5 balls. But Allen had the last laugh as he dismissed Gurbaz, caught and bowled for 22. Chris Green bowled out Shai Hope in the next over when he was beginning to emerge as a threat. With 2 big wickets just before the end of the powerplay, Guyana were at 62/3 by the end of 6 overs. Keemo Paul looked to take on the role that Hope was playing but at the other end they lost Shakib Al Hasan, who was bowled out again by Chris Green. Tallawahs managed to pick wickets at crucial moments and that pegged back the Warriors at 95 for 4 after 10 overs, still needing another 132 runs. Paul was their lone warrior as Tallawahs kept getting wickets at the other end including the big one of their captain Hetmyer, who was bowled out by Nicholson Gordon. Paul went on to bat until the 18th over, when he was bowled out by Wasim for 56 when the ball crashed into the middle of the stumps. He was the 4th batsmen getting bowled out this innings. Despite the Warriors hitting some boundaries at the end, it was captain Powell who bowled the last over of the innings and dismissed Smith in the final ball to conclude the match in favour of the Tallawahs. Jamaica Tallawahs won by 37 runs and booked a place in the finals of the 2022 Caribbean Premier League. Shamarh Brooks was awarded Man of the Match for his magnificent unbeaten century. Captain Powell looked extremely delighted with his team’s performance. The only worry for the team will be Amir’s recovery from his injury and if he will be ready in time for the final.
Jamaica Tallawahs - the two-time CPL Champions will now look forward to face off against the Barbados Royals at the Providence stadium in Guyana for the coveted CPL trophy and will hope to be 3 times champions at the end.