Gajanand Singh and Jason Mohammed were at the crease when victory was achieved
CPL: Warriors beat Stars to stay alive
SUMMARY: Guyana Amazon Warriors 101-3 (Mohammed 42*, Guptill 38, Shillingford 1-20) beat St Lucia Stars 100-7 (Ryder 29, Rashid 2-19, Emrit 2-26) by seven wickets
Another loss for the St Lucia Stars means they have now played eight matches without a win in the 2017 Hero Caribbean Premier League. A victory for Guyana Amazon Warriors takes them above Barbados Tridents, to fourth in the table.
After being put into bat by the Amazon Warriors on a typically difficult Providence Stadium pitch the Stars innings never got going and they limped their way to 100 for 7 from their 20 overs. The Amazon Warriors chased the target for the loss of just three wickets and with 32 balls to spare.
This was a pitch on which attacking stroke-play was rarely rewarded and after a slow start the Stars attempted to hit their way out of trouble, but that only hastened their downfall. Regular wickets punctured any chance that they might scrap their way to a competitive total.
This season the Stars have been heavily reliant on the runs scored by openers Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher. Here their opening partnership lasted only ten balls after Fletcher looked to cut loose following a tight start and was caught at long off by Rashid Khan off the bowling of Veerasammy Permaul.
Only two balls later Shane Watson was gone too, the victim of some confused running and a direct hit from backward point. At the end of the PowerPlay the Stars were 26 for 2.
Things quickly got worse for when Charles attempted to respond to the pressure of the scoreboard by taking on Rayad Emrit. He could succeed only in picking out Permaul at long-on to fall for a scrappy 15 off 22 balls, leaving the Stars 35 for 3 after 7.4 overs.
Ryder became the fourth batsman dismissed when he pushed for a second run, despite an injured knee, and was run out by a tidy throw from mid-wicket. The Stars remote hope of a decent total was all but ended when Daren Sammy was given out leg before wicket on the back foot to Khan for 19 off 24.
It was asking a lot of the Stars lower order to elevate them to an imposing total. After Sammy’s dismissal they only managed to add 27 for 3 in their final 4.5 overs with Jerome Taylor hitting a six off the last ball of the innings.
The Amazon Warriors chase got off to the worst possible start when Chadwick Walton was brilliantly bowled by Taylor for a first ball duck. When Martin Guptill was stumped off the bowling of Rahkeem Cornwall the Stars may have believed that they could pull off the most unlikely of victories.
However, when defending such a small total they needed to take regular wickets to maintain the pressure. They were unable to do that and the aggression of Sohail Tanvir, again promoted to open, ensured the run rate never became a concern.
Tanvir scored 38 from 29 balls and his partnership of 51 with Jason Mohammad took the Amazon Warriors within 28 of victory when he was stumped. Mohammad’s unbeaten 42 took the Amazon Warriors to victory with more than five overs to spare, giving them a crucial net run rate boost in the race for a playoff place. (CPLT20)
