BASSETERRE, St Kitts, CMC – Gudakesh Motie followed up a strong batting led by Shai Hope with a career-best spell to propel Guyana Amazon Warriors to a 65-run win against St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in the Caribbean Premier League on Thursday.
Motie, the West Indies left-arm spinner, ended with four for 29 from his allotted four overs to earn the Player-of-the-Match award, and the Amazon Warriors successfully defended a target of 198 in the eighth match of this year’s tournament at Warner Park.
“Hitting the right areas was important,” Motie said. “It was a perfect pitch, so once you hit the right areas, you were going to get something out of it.”
Patriots captain Evin Lewis led the way with 48, and former India batsman Ambati Rayudu made 32, but there was little else from the rest of the batting, and the hosts were bowled out with 19 balls remaining in the contest.
“We are proud of the win, and it’s good to get my first win as captain, and I think the boys did a fantastic job,” Warriors captain Imran Tahir said. “Our batters especially, whatever the plans we had, and we have been practicing, they executed well.”
“The overs in the middle are very crucial, and we have four all-rounders that we can bring whenever we can, but (Gudakesh) bowled well, and that’s why we picked him, and he has been with us for a few years. I hope he continues, so everyone did an excellent job.”
Andre Fletcher was caught at deep cover boundary for one, West Indies Test wicketkeeper-batsman Joshua Da Silva was caught in the covers for 10, and Patriots stumbled to 37 for two at the end of the Power Play.
Lewis counter-attacked, and Rayudu provided stable support in a stand of 55 for the third wicket, but the Patriots captain was caught behind in the ninth over. Fellow left-hander Sherfane Rutherford was caught at deep cover in the next over, and the home team slumped to 88 for four at the half.
The rest of the Patriot’s batting failed to add substance or stability, and pacer Dwaine Pretorius brought the match to a close to give the visitors their first win when he got Afghanistan teenager Izharulhaq Naveed caught at deep mid-wicket for two.
“Going into the chase, we were very positive, knowing the batters we have,” Lewis said. “We always back ourselves to get that score, but unfortunately, it did not come off.
“(Our batting) is something we have to examine closely. We cannot be doing this every game. We have to dig deep and come up with trumps. We have a lot of senior guys, and we need to step up.”
The Warriors moved to three points from two matches, and they are third in the standings, while the Patriots have two points from four games, and they are fourth in the characters and play their fifth match against Barbados Royals on Saturday at the same venue.
Earlier, Hope, the West Indies One-day International captain, hit three fours and four sixes in 54 from 32 balls and anchored the Warriors to 197 for seven from their allocation of 20 overs after they were put into bat.
The visitors were set back early when Sheldon Cottrell got left-handed opener Chandrapaul Hemraj lbw for a four-ball duck in the first over.
The Warriors lost two further wickets in the Power Play when left-arm pacer Dominic Drakes bowled Saim Ayub for 31, and Oshane Thomas got Azam Khan caught at short third man, but the Guyanese franchise kept a brisk run rate, and they were 59 for three at the end of the Power Play.
Hope and Shimron Hetmyer built on that early momentum and carried the Warriors to 101 for three at the halfway mark.
Leg-spinner Izharulhaq bowled Hope in the 13th over, and Hetmyer was caught at deep point in the next over. Still, their dismissals temporarily slowed the scoring before Keemo Paul, with 25, and Romario Shepherd, not out 25, added quick runs at the back end to help the Warriors post an imposing total.
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