Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 07/Sep 19:46

TKR lose to rivals Amazon Warriors in Providence thriller

For the second time in as many matches, South African Dwaine Pretorius turned out to be a saviour with the bat for the Guyana Amazon Warriors as his lower-order hitting helped them to a tense three-wicket win with a ball to spare against rivals Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in their Caribbean Premier League (CPL) clash at Providence Stadium in Guyana on September 6. For the second-placed TKR (12 points), it was a second straight loss after rattling off five successive victories – four of which came at home at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba. This latest defeat now puts TKR in jeopardy of missing out on a top two spot, which will place them in a qualifier to try and advance to the September 21 final. TKR have one preliminary match left against the cellar-placed Barbados Royals and they will certainly be observing anxiously to see if the Warriors can surpass them on the standings. Sent to have first strike by Imran Tahir, the TKR batsmen struggled for most of their innings against the Warriors spinners and looked to be heading to a below-par total. With the innings crawling along after the pair of Keacy Carty (29 off 34 balls) and Darren Bravo (33 off 35) struggled to find tempo in a 56-run partnership for the fourth wicket, it took a belligerent innings from former skipper Kieron Pollard (54 not out off 18) to take the team to a respectable score of 167 for five. After 15 overs, TKR's score stood at 93 for three. However, with Pollard heaving five fours and five sixes in a devastating display of hitting, he gave TKR a fighting chance on a pitch which offered a good bit of turn to the spinners as he helped them get 74 off the last five overs. It was a sharp, turning ball which accounted for the wicket of TKR captain Nicholas Pooran (13) in the last over of the power play when he was bowled by Moeen Ali with a perfect delivery. The English off-spinner had figures of one for 11 in a brilliant four-over spell, which complemented the work by pacers Pretorius (one for 26) and Romario Shepherd (one for 46), who got the early wickets of openers Colin Munro (17) and Alex Hales (seven). For yet another game, the Amazon Warriors changed their opening pair as the in-form Shai Hope went back to his regular number three position while Australian Ben McDermott didn't take the field to bat after sustaining an injury while fielding on the boundary early in the TKR innings. Similar to the hosts, TKR had a dream start with the ball as wily left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein (two for 35) removed the makeshift opening pair of Moeen (four) and Keemo Paul (six) in his first two overs. At that stage, the Warriors were on 14 for two and TKR looked to be seizing the advantage. [caption id="attachment_1176673" align="alignnone" width="683"] Guyana Amazon Warriors allrounder Dwaine Pretorius hits a six runs during the Men's 2025 Republic Bank CPL match against Trinbago Knight Riders at Providence Stadium in Georgetown, Guyana on September 6. (Photo courtesy Ashley Allen - CPL T20/Getty Images) -[/caption] However, the pair of Hope (53 off 46) and Shimron Hetmyer (49 off 30) quickly turned things around for the Warriors as they countered the TKR attack with some big hitting to end the power play on a high. Jamaican allrounder Andre Russell conceded 45 runs in a three-over spell, with Hope slamming two sixes down the ground in the fourth over of the innings, which yielded 17 runs. At the other end, Hetmyer wasn't to be left out as he hit Usman Tariq (one for 36) for two sixes in the sixth over, which cost TKR 19 runs. The onslaught saw Guyana ending the power play on 66 for two while they got to 88 for two at the halfway mark. The Amazon Warriors looked comfortable at that point as they needed 80 runs off the last ten overs. However, TKR's spinners soon came to the party as Hetmyer was dismissed by Sunil Narine (two for 12) after aiming for an almighty heave towards the square leg boundary, while new batsman Hassan Khan (three) was comprehensively bowled by Tariq two overs later. With the reliable Hope still at the crease, Guyana still had reasonable control. That changed in the 16th over, though, as Hope was trapped lbw by Narine in the last over of a mesmerising spell. With the score on 123 for five, the Amazon Warriors still needed 45 runs off 26 balls and TKR stood a real chance of shocking the Guyanese faithful. In the subsequent over, Pollard had a chance to deliver a telling blow but put down a difficult one-handed chance away to his right to give Pretorius a life early in his innings. The big-hitting Shepherd (nine) didn't last long as he was brilliantly bowled by Russell to leave the Warriors on 136 for six in the 18th over. Tellingly, Russell couldn't get out of the over unscathed as the right-handed Pretorius clouted two sixes to end the over to leave Guyana needing 19 off the last two overs. In the penultimate over, Nathan Edward (one for 30) got the scalp of Quentin Sampson (seven) and the Amazon Warriors were left with nine to get off the last over. With Russell proving to be expensive, Pollard was given the responsibility of bowling the final over. Pollard conceded just one run off the first two balls, but Pretorius had the final say when he thumped a six over the leg side off the third ball to bring his team closer to the victory as they eventually got to 168 for seven off 19.5 overs. Pretorius finished on 26 not out off 14 to bag the Man of the Match award for a second straight game after hitting a game-changing fifty against the Barbados Royals on September 4. The win took the fourth-placed Warriors up to eight points ahead of their match against the fifth-placed St Kitts and Nevis Patriots after press time on September 7. Summarised Scores – TKR 167/5 from 20 overs (Kieron Pollard 54 not out, Darren Bravo 33, Keacy Carty 29; Moeen Ali 1/11) vs GUYANA AMAZON WARRIORS – 168/7 from 19.5 overs (Shai Hope 53, Shimron Hetmyer 49, Dwaine Pretorius 26 not out; Sunil Narine 2/12, Akeal Hosein 2/35). Amazon Warriors won by three wickets.   The post TKR lose to rivals Amazon Warriors in Providence thriller appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.