Amazon Warriors qualify for Hero CPL knockouts with a win in Florida

2016 HERO CARIBBEAN PREMIER LEAGUE – MATCH REPORT 25: 

Guyana Amazon Warriors 168-7 (N Maddinson 50, D Smith 50, R Reifer 2 for 22) beat Barbados Tridents 142-7 (Shoaib Malik 55*, R Emrit 2 for 24) by six wickets with 10 balls to spare.

CPL Post Match Audio Reaction HERE

The Guyana Amazon Warriors have secured a spot in the knockout stages of the Hero Caribbean Premier League with a stunning victory over the Barbados Tridents in Lauderhill, Florida. In the historic first match for the Hero CPL in the USA the Amazon Warriors easily chased down their target of 143 with Dwayne Smith and Nic Maddinson both making fifties. Smith and Maddinson put on an opening stand that was worth 92 runs as the Amazon Warriors won by six wickets.

Despite being presented with a very good batting surface the Tridents struggled with the bat, setting a total that was ultimately uncompetitive. A clump of wickets in the middle of the Tridents innings saw them lose all momentum with Sohail Tanvir and Rayad Emrit the chief destroyers.

The Tridents got off to a brisk start despite the early loss of Ahmed Shehzad inside the batting PowerPlay. Throughout this year’s Hero CPL the Tridents have struggled to get off to a quick start and they made the decision to promote David Wiese to number three to inject some pace into the innings. It was a move that worked as Wiese hit 40 off 31 balls, his highest score in Hero CPL matches.

Wiese put on a 48 run stand with Shoaib Malik as the two of them built an excellent platform from which the powerful Tridents middle order could launch. Unfortunately for the Bajan team when Wiese departed caught in the deep by Chris Lynn it began a procession of Tridents wickets as no one could stay and support Shoaib who made 55 not out.

By the time Raymon Reifer was brilliantly caught by Adam Zampa off his own bowling the Tridents had lost five wickets for 26 runs in the space of 33 balls.  Having had such a good start it was a remarkable collapse on an excellent Lauderhill pitch.

Shoaib remained undefeated at the end of the innings and if he had some support from his teammates he could have anchored a total of around 180. As it was the Tridents limped to 142-7 with Shoaib hitting the last ball of the innings for a Hero Maximum.

Chasing that sub-par total there was little need for the Amazon Warriors to do much more than put the bad balls away to the boundaries. Smith passed 1,000 Hero CPL runs during his innings as the Amazon Warriors reached 51-0 at the end of the six over PowerPlay.

Smith put on a brilliant display of T20 hitting for the lively Florida crowd as he broke the back of the chase inside the first ten overs. He was well supported by Australian Maddinson who recovered from a disappointing showing in his first appearance in the last match to score 50.

Smith fell in the 11^th over going for another Hero Maximum and Maddinson departed three overs later, but the game was already won by then. The Amazon Warriors also lost the in-form Chris Lynn before they reached their victory target but they got there with 10 balls to spare

This loss is not the end of the road for the Tridents, but they are now left relying on other results going their way to make the knockout stages. They have one game left against these same opponents on Saturday and they need to win that and hope that Trinbago Knight Riders or St Lucia Zouks lose both of their remaining matches. A win for each of the Knight Riders and the Zouks in their remaining matches and the Tridents cannot qualify.

Match 26, St Kitts & Nevis Patriots v Trinbago Knight Riders Preview

Tomorrow sees current Hero CPL champions Trinbago Knight Riders take on bottom of the table St Kitts & Nevis Patriots at Central Broward Stadium in Lauderhill, Florida. Speaking ahead of this match the TKR coach Simon Helmot was feeling positive about the conditions in Lauderhill and his team’s chances.

“This is fantastic. The conditions here are great. We have had a really good training session. The wicket looks fantastic so I think it is going to be a fantastic match. We have two crucial matches here against the Patriots who haven’t been in the best of form but that is when they can be the most dangerous. We played well recently at St Lucia and need to do the same again tomorrow night.”

When asked what American fans should expect from the cricket they will see over the coming weekend he said they should look out for the unexpected.

“That is the thing. You don’t know what to expect. That is the excitement of T20 cricket. Our last game we had a fella hitting 70 runs off 40 deliveries, seeing action all the time with the bat and the ball and in the field and the game is done in three hours. For the average fan whether you are a cricket lover or not it is a great opportunity to come down and look to see what this T20 cricket is all about. The Hero CPL is going to put on a marvellous night and we look forward to entertaining firstly and hopefully winning.”

Helmot sees T20 as the perfect way to spread cricket to new territories like the USA, and said that the similarities with baseball were clear to see.

“It is like for us back home with baseball in Australia to grow to love it when it isn’t your first sport. I think cricket is really engaging all fans. I know back in Australia the population of females and kids going to cricket has increased now that the game isn’t five days but over in three hours. I have been lucky enough to go and visit some baseball games here in the USA and I can see a lot of similarities between the games both in entertainment and it being a three hour format.”

UPCOMING LAUDERHILL FIXTURES (all times local): 29 July - St Kitts & Nevis Patriots v Trinbago Knight Riders (7pm), 30 July – St. Lucia Zouks v Jamaica Tallawahs (midday), Barbados Tridents v Guyana Amazon Warriors (4pm), 31 July - Trinbago Knight Riders v St Kitts & Nevis Patriots (midday), Jamaica Tallawahs v St. Lucia Zouks (4pm).

TICKETS: The Ticket Office at the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center, located next to the Central Broward Stadium, is selling tickets from Monday to Friday (10am-7pm) to enable fans to physically buy tickets in advance of the biggest party in sport this summer. Tickets are also on sale from Tropics Restaurant (Pembroke Pines), Island Getaway Roti Shop (West Palm Beach), Lucky City (Margate), Kingston Delight (North Miami), Caribbean Choice Bakery (West Palm Beach) and Joy’s Roti Shop (Lauderhill). Tickets are on sale now for all games across the Caribbean and Florida from www.cplt20.com.