Tanvir cameo helps Amazon Warriors move to second spot

 
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Guyana Amazon Warriors 169 for 6 (Tanvir 37*, Mohammed 36, Brathwaite 2-23) beat St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 168 for 7 (Gayle 40, Devcich 35, Tahir 4-22) by four wickets

The logjam at the top of the CPL has grown from two to three sides as Guyana Amazon Warriors snuck a four-wicket win at the wire over St Kitts & Nevis Patriots to join Trinbago Knight Riders and Jamaica Tallawahs on eight points in a tie for first place. Imran Tahir‘s 4 for 22 vaulted him from ninth to a tie for second on the CPL 2018 wickets chart with 11 scalps in six matches and helped restrict the Patriots to a manageable total, eventually overhauled in the final over by a nerveless innings from Sohail Tanvir.

Y2K

Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis fired the Patriots to a blistering Powerplay, ending the first six overs on 62 for no loss. Gayle came into the match already a few hundred runs clear of Andre Fletcher for the most runs in the history of the CPL, but the Universe Boss passed a significant milestone on Tuesday night in St Kitts becoming the first batsman in the six-year history of the league to cross 2000 runs.

Gayle did it in the fifth over against Tanvir. Entering the match, the Jamaican had never hit Tanvir for six in a CPL match since the Pakistani first arrived in the tournament in season two. But Gayle made up for lost time at Warner Park, cracking Tanvir for 6, 4, 6, 4, 4 across the last five balls of the over. The middle delivery sailed straight over Tanvir’s head, over the Warner Park roof and took Gayle past 2000. It took Keemo Paul’s arrival in the eighth over to finally dislodge Gayle, smashing a cut straight to Cameron Delport at backward point for 40 off 27 balls.

Tahir the runaway train

After Paul broke the opening stand, Tahir was unleashed on the Patriots in the ninth over. Within four balls had struck for the first of his four wickets on the night. The first blow was fairly innocuous, Evin Lewis slashing at a wide delivery to send a catch to short third man, but Tahir was off and running halfway to the boundary in his customary celebration.

Brandon King, who outlasted Mohammad Irfan’s near flawless opening spell to strike his maiden CPL fifty on Saturday night in a win over Tridents, could not survive Tahir’s first ball after drinks as he played around a skiddy straight ball that knocked back leg stump. Devon Thomas was pinned leg before by a googly in the 13th for Tahir’s third. His final over was saved for the 17th where he nabbed Mahmudullah with a miscued drive to extra cover. From 71 for 0, Patriots had slipped to 124 for 6 by the time Tahir’s work for the night was done.

Emrit misses a trick

Amazon Warriors kept Patriots in the match thanks in part to some curious strategic moves by Rayad Emrit, who took over as captain Tuesday night after Shoaib Malik went back to Pakistan to begin preparations for the Asia Cup. Paul had bowled superbly in the eighth and 10th overs, tying down Patriots after the wicket of Gayle for figures of 1 for 7 in two overs but was mystifyingly absent from the attack for the rest of the innings.

Emrit entered the final over with figures of 0 for 32 in three overs already on the night. Despite Paul’s experience as a death bowler, Emrit kept the ball in his hand for the 20th and conceded 24 more runs. The sloppy over included two sixes by Ben Cutting followed by five wides sprayed well down the leg side and another thigh high full toss that was lucky not to be hit by Cutting for a third maximum. Carlos Brathwaite muscled Emrit down the ground off the final ball for a boundary to take the Patriots to 168.

Hanging Chad

Last year’s leading scorer and player of the tournament continues to struggle at CPL 2018. Chadwick Walton scratched his way to 8 off 17 balls before he was out in front of a Sheldon Cottrell slower ball in the fifth over. The offcutter pitched just in line with leg stump before jagging across to strike him in line with middle and after a lengthy delay the umpire finally raised the finger. Walton had 458 runs in 2017, but has just 75 in six innings so far this tournament.

Wide berth

The best contribution from the top five of the Amazon Warriors batting order was 36 and their best partnership was just 46, summing up a night of fits and starts. But they were aided immensely by some poor Patriots fielding and a total of 15 wides, the joint-most bowled by any team in a match this season.

Ben Cutting took a pair of spectacular catches on the long-on boundary, the second of which resulted in the wicket of Roshan Primus off the bowling of Brathwaite on the second to last ball of the 18th over to make it 149 for 6, but they were lost in the shuffle of the sloppy misses that followed. Tanvir should have been out the very next ball for 20 when he skewed a low full toss high over cover, but Anton Devcich overran the chance haring back from the 30-yard ring only to see the ball land in between the painted markers as Tanvir took a single to keep strike for the 19th.

Tanvir then clubbed the first ball of Sheldon Cottrell’s next over flat over square leg for six, then heaved a slower ball over midwicket for six more to end the over. With three needed to win off the final over, Patriots then blew three clear-cut runout chances on three suicide singles as the Warriors made it home with a ball to spare.

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