Barbados Royals usurped Guyana Amazon Warriors from the top of the CPL 2024 points table with a win over the latter in match number 16 of the competition at the Kensington Oval.
Losing opener Kadeem Alleyne for a swift nine-ball 22 in the third over, Quinton de Kock marched on for the Barbados Royals alongside Alick Athanaze with an 82-run partnership for the second wicket.
Quinton’s early belligerence with the bat helped Royals shape 49-1 from the opening powerplay, and another 45 runs off the next four overs to reach 94-1 at the halfway stage of the innings.
The dashing South African-based opener recorded his own half-century inside the first 10 overs of the match.
Guyana Amazon Warriors bowlers Dwaine Pretorius (2-27) and Raymon Reifer (3-50) struck back with some late wickets during the backend of the Barbados Royals innings.
For starters, Reifer halted Quinton de Kock’s rampaging partnership with Alick Athanaze (16 off 19) by dismissing the latter at 107-2. Pretorius and Keemo Paul got rid of Rovman Powell and David Miller in quick succession as the Royals slipped to 140-4 in 16 overs.
Quintin de Kock remained unfazed at the other end as he went on to notch up his seventh T20 century off 60 balls before finishing at 115 from 68 with eight boundaries and nine towering sixes. Jason Holder also raided 28 unbeaten runs off just 10 deliveries at the death as the Barbados Royals mounted 205-6 from 20 overs.
Chasing 206, Guyana Amazon Warriors lost both openers inside the first six overs of the innings. While Jason Holder had Azam Khan hold out by David Miller off the first ball of his opening spell, Keshav Maharaj got Tim Robinson out stumped as the Warriors slipped to 34-2 in 5.4 overs.
Captain Shai Hope and attacking middle-order star Shimron Hetmyer shared 41 runs together in a space of just three overs before the latter was caught slogging at deep midwicket to Maharaj at 75-3. Amidst a brief rain interruption, the Warriors reached 85-3 in the first 10 overs.
Guyana Amazon Warriors captain Shai Hope was caught-and-bowled by Jason Holder after smacking 40 runs off 34 balls with two boundaries and two sixes.
Shai Hope, Amazon Warriors captain says At Post-Match Presentation: “We gave a little bit away in the end – 25-30 runs too much. One of those days where you don’t get over the line. We understand the class bowler that Theekshana is. We need to understand the conditions, it was difficult to hit when the ball gripped. Wasn’t the greatest game, need to look at areas to improve. Need to find ways to get wickets. Imran Tahir is a big loss for us, but we can’t look at that. There are plenty of ways to get wickets. And then the death overs, important to finish well. Fans always support us, I am sure if we continue what we do, they’ll come out in numbers in Guyana.”
Moeen Ali, playing his first game of the season, covered good ground with the bat as the former English player scored 33 off 19 with a slew of boundaries by himself. In a bid to go downtown against Keshav Maharaj (3-42), Ali merely sliced one towards Rovman Powell at long-off.
At 126-5, Keemo Paul (30* off 18) and Raymon Reifer (16* off 16) batted out till the remainder of the innings to add 47 runs together from 5.3 overs. Paul and Reifer’s unbeaten efforts extended the Warriors total to 173-5 as they fell short of their target by 32 runs.