Guyana Amazon Warriors completed the perfect set of home victories in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a comprehensive defeat of the table-topping Barbados Royals on Sunday night.

 The victory means the two teams will do it all again on Tuesday in the first qualifier. 

 The Amazon Warriors won the toss and opted to field first, and that proved to be an inspired decision. On a fresh surface, their seamers wreaked havoc taking three wickets inside the PowerPlay to leave the Royals in disarray.

Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and the 125 the Royals mustered was never likely to be enough on a track that offered good value for positive stroke play. 

The Royals were able to take two early wickets of their own when they had their turn to bowl restricting the Amazon Warriors to 18-2 but that was as good as it got. 

 Shakib Al-Hasan produced a scintillating half-century to put the Amazon Warriors on the cusp of victory and the remaining batters saw the chase home to win the game inside 15 overs.

 Earlier Guyana Amazon Warriors had utilised the movement on offer to unleash their cadre of seamers on the Royals. Romario Shepherd, Keemo Paul and Odean Smith all weighed in with wickets to leave the Royals 97-9 and it was only late cameos from Ramon Simmonds and Mujeeb Ur Rahman that enabled the Royals to post 125.

 Although the Amazon Warriors lost Chandrapaul Hemraj and Shai Hope in the PowerPlay, Shakib played an enterprising innings to take the drama out of the chase. His knock of 53 came off 30 balls and laid the foundation for the Amazon Warriors to win with five over to spare.

 The two sides will now do battle again in the first qualifier on Tuesday to determine who will earn the right to go straight to the Hero CPL final.

Scores: Guyana Amazon Warriors 126-5 (Shakib 53, Gurbaz 22; McCoy 2-22, Mayers 1-20) beat Barbados Royals 125 (Holder 42, Khan 20; Shepherd 3-14, Paul 2-9) by 5 wickets.

 

Stafanie Taylor scored an unbeaten half-century to lead the West Indies Women to a four-wicket victory over New Zealand in the final ODI match at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Sunday.

Taylor scored an 89-ball 51 before retiring as the West Indies Women, chasing 168, scored 169-6 with 38 balls remaining for a consolation victory in the three-match series.

Lauren Down scored 53 and Amelia Carr, 30, in New Zealand’s total of 168 in 48.1 overs. The West Indies Women bowled well to restrict New Zealand and were led by their captain, Hayley Matthews, who dismissed Down, finishing with figures of 2-23 from her 10 overs.

Spinner Karishma Ramharack took 2-28 and Afy Fletcher 2-31 as the attack gave the batters an achievable target.

After the West Indies lost the wickets of Natasha McLean and Shakibi Gujnabi early in the chase, Matthews scored 40, and with Taylor, put on 81 for the third wicket before she was dismissed by Brooke Halliday who took 1-16 from her four overs.

Taylor retired hurt shortly thereafter leaving, Aaliyah Alleyne to score an s unbeaten 27  as she and Shakera Selman (5) took the West Indies Women across to victory.

 

 

 

Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav were decisive with the bat as India dramatically sealed a series win over Australia with one ball to spare.

Australia were put into bat first by the hosts and they looked to be in a decent position when reaching 186-7.

India's response did not start impressively but the 104-run stand of Kohli and Yadav put Rohit Sharma's men back on track, eventually sealing victory – and the series – right at the end as their T20 World Cup preparations continued positively.

Cameron Green (52) was crucial to Australia's blazing start, though he did not get much support as Aaron Finch (7), Steven Smith (9) and Glenn Maxwell (6) all failed to even reach double digits.

Axar Patel (3-33) more than played his part with the ball, taking Finch, Maxwell and then Josh Inglis (24), who did at least contribute to providing a little more stability for Australia.

Tim David (54) top scored and Daniel Sams (28 not out) aided a late flurry, with their total looking unlikely to be toppled at the beginning of India's chase as KL Rahul (1) and Sharma (17) fell without making much of an impact.

But Kohli and Yadav soon took over as India made a massive dent in the deficit.

Sams (2-33) and Josh Hazlewood (1-40) eventually claimed their respective scalps, but Hardik Pandya (25) came in to see India over the line, with a thick edge off Sams ensuring they got the job done with a ball left.

India wield the Axar

Patel is surely in contention to be player of the series, with this another very impressive bowling performance.

His efforts ruined Australia's middle-order momentum and you can make a case for that being ultimately decisive on the day.

Yadav powers India into the ascendancy

This was a brutal showing with the bat. Yadav's 69 was off just 36 balls and came at a time when India desperately needed an injection of bravery.

Kohli definitely played his part, but Yadav attacked with even greater emphasis.

 West Indies and Barbados Royals’ pace bowler Obed McCoy has come in for high praise from teammate and Barbados Royals' bowling partner Jason Holder.

The two are the leading wicket-takers for the Barbados-based CPL franchise and both have been selected in the West Indies squad for the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia.

The Barbados Royals lead the 2022 Hero CPL standings with 16 points having lost only one of the nine games played so far thanks in part to the bowling of Holder, who has so far taken 14 wickets in the tournament, second only to the St Lucia Kings’ Alzarri Joseph, who has 16.

McCoy has taken 13 wickets which puts him tied for third in the standings for most wickets. The former West Indies captain believes that the Vincentian’s bowling talent is among the best he has seen in recent times.

"He's probably one of the most skilled bowlers that we've produced in a very long time, and it is showing - he has been successful around the world,” said Holder of his Royals’ bowling partner in a recent interview with ESPNCricinfo.

“He has played in the IPL, county cricket, he has done well in the Caribbean as well. Again, if he continues to develop, and understands himself, then nobody can really stop him.”

Holder opined that McCoy has all the tools to be even better and he feels obliged to help the young bowler get to the lofty heights.

"He has got the talent and all the deliveries you could think of,” he said indicating that he wants to help as many of the upcoming bowlers as he can.

“So, it is important for me to continue to help them. Whatever they ask, just try to have answers for them. If I don't have answers at a particular time, try my best to find them and help them as much as I can. It's like being a parent.”

Right-arm pace bowler Cheryl-Ann Fraser has been selected to replace Shamilia Connell in the 13-player squad for the third and final CG United One Day International (ODI) against New Zealand Women to be played on Sunday, September 25, at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.

Guyana Amazon Warriors secured their place in the 2022 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) play-offs with a 37-run win over Trinbago Knight Riders.  

Trinbago Knight Riders won the toss and chose to field in this must-win game, with Amazon Warriors opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz giving the fans at Providence stadium a spectacle, scoring 60 from 42 balls to ignite the Warrior’s innings and help take them to 173-6. 

In their chase, the Trinbago Knight Riders built a steady opening partnership through Tim Seifert and Colin Munro, but wickets then fell throughout their innings as the Amazon Warriors were spurred on by a vocal home crowd. The Knight Riders finished 136 all out and lost by 37 runs. 

Guyana Amazon Warriors suffered an early setback in their innings as Ravi Rampaul showed his effectiveness in the PowerPlay by taking the wicket of Chandrapaul Hemraj. Gurbaz would then play some spectacular shots to accelerate the run rate. Sunil Narine, who did not bowl until the 12th over, would claw the Knight Riders back into the game by taking the key wickets of Shakib Al Hasan and Romario Shepherd. A remarkable late blitz from Odean Smith, scoring 23 runs from 7 balls, would then catapult the Warriors to 173/6. 

Trinbago Knight Riders had a good start in their chase, Seifert and Munro keeping up with the run rate, but led by Shakib, the Warriors fought back to take wickets, including some spectacular fielding to dismiss Nicholas Pooran. Once captain Kieron Pollard was out stumped, the Knight Riders faced an uphill battle and finished on 136 all out.

The result means that Trinbago Knight Riders have been eliminated from play-off contention. 

 

Legendary West Indies fast bowler Sir Andy Roberts believes not having a settled team could make things difficult for the team in the upcoming T20 World Cup qualifiers.

In order to officially book a spot in Australia next month, the two-time champions must advance from a play-off group that will also feature Ireland, Scotland, and Zimbabwe.  The team will start as heavy favourites to advance from the group but the squad will feature several players that have not been in the squad for the last few months and even some who have never played the format internationally.

Since a disastrous campaign at the 2021 World Cup, the Windies have played 22 matches, but a few of the players added to the squad have not played in the majority of them over the past year.  For instance, Evin Lewis has not played since the last tournament, Johnson Charles has not played for the team since 2016, Sheldon Cottrell has played sparingly since the start of the year, and Yannic Cariah and Raymond Reifer are yet to play in the format.

Having played so many matches Roberts believes the team should have been already been using a settled squad ahead of the tournament.

“We don’t have a settled team and that is the biggest problem.  You don’t know what your teammate is capable of doing because he has just come into the team,” Roberts told the Mason and Guest Radio program.

“When West Indies was at its best, we had a settled team for five, ten years.  If you check out Australia, Australia has a settled team, and Pakistan has a settled team.  India is fiddling around with the team and just look at the issues they have been having.  You need settled teams,” he added.

“We are going with a number of new players, new to the international scene.  We knew for a long time that the World Cup was going to be this year, so we should have been trying our best to make sure we have a unit that is ready to go from ball one.”

 

 

Mark Wood made an explosive return after maiden Twenty20 International half-centuries for Harry Brook and Ben Duckett as England thrashed Pakistan by 63 runs to take a 2-1 series lead.

Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan starred in a record-breaking 10-wicket win for Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi on Thursday, but the tourists responded in emphatic fashion at the same venue 24 hours later.

Brook (81 not out off 35 balls) and Duckett (70no from 42) put on 139 in a sublime unbroken fourth-wicket stand to get England up to an imposing 221-3.

Pakistan fell short on 158-8, Wood taking 3-25 in his first match for six months following two elbow operations, with a first T20I half-century for Shan Masood (66no from 40) in vain.

Will Jacks, in for Alex Hales, struck an impressive 40 off 22 balls after Babar put England in, before Usman Qadir (2-48) got rid of the debutant and Dawid Malan (14). 

England were 82-3 when Jacks departed, but Duckett and Brook combined for a match-winning stand to silence the crowd a day after Babar and Rizwan put on a show.

The right and left-hand combination showed the tourists' strength in depth with the bat as the Pakistan bowlers were unable to contain them.

Babar and Rizwan could not repeat their heroics from the previous day, when they put on 203, the hostile Wood dismissing the captain for eight and Haider Ali for just three.

Reece Topley cleaned up Rizwan in a nightmare start to Pakistan's run chase and Adil Rashid took 2-32 as Babar's side never looked like chasing down their target despite the best efforts of Masood.

Brook and Duckett come to the fore

Big things are expected of Brook, who made his Test debut against South Africa at The Oval this month, and the 23-year-old showed precisely why as he made a brilliant maiden half-century for his country.

He struck five sixes and eight fours, timing the ball sweetly as he piled on the runs on both sides of the wicket and facing only 24 balls for his fifty.

Duckett played the spinners superbly, sweeping with authority to bring up his half-century from just 31 balls.

Wood back with a bang

The luckless Wood had been out since March due to more injury woes, but generated blistering pace and looked like he had never been away.

Wood claimed the huge wicket of Babar, caught on the boundary by Topley from a searing delivery, and saw the back of Haider in a breathtaking opening burst, then returning to remove Haris Rauf in the penultimate over.

Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik powered India to a six-wicket victory over Australia in an eight-over dust-up in Nagpur as the hosts levelled the series.

Chasing down Australia's 90-5, India reached their target with four balls to spare after Karthik cracked the first delivery he faced for six and followed up with a pull for four.

The outfield was considered too wet for the T20I match to begin on time after rain earlier in the week, and ground staff worked to make it playable, even if only for a reduced-overs contest. Play eventually began after 21:30 local time.

Australia won the first match in Mohali on Tuesday, making this second contest in the three-game series a must-win fixture for the hosts.

After being put in, Australia captain Aaron Finch rattled to 31 at the top of the order, before Jasprit Bumrah took his leg stump, and wicketkeeper-batter Matthew Wade cracked a brutal 43 not out from 20 balls.

KL Rahul (10) and Virat Kohli (11) just about made it to double figures as India set about their chase, but it was captain Sharma who pinned the innings together, with four sixes and four fours in his 20-ball 46no.

Daniel Sams was trusted with the ball for the final over as Australia looked for some heroics, but the paceman was flogged over the ropes by Karthik from the first ball before sealing victory with another boundary. The series decider takes place in Hyderabad on Sunday.

Finch sees Australia fall short

Captain Finch ended his three-match run of sub-30 scores in T20Is, but his efforts were not enough to catapult Australia towards a sufficiently high score.

The skipper said at the post-match presentation: "We just got out-executed a little bit towards the back end there. Rohit played a great innings."

He said India bowler Axar Patel (2-13), who claimed the wickets of Glenn Maxwell and Tim David, had bowled two "brilliant" overs, that were "probably the difference in the game".

Rohit hails returning Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah made a timely appearance in India colours, with the T20 World Cup in sight. Sidelined recently by a back injury, the star fast bowler satisfied captain Rohit as he took 1-23 from two overs.

"Coming back after a couple of months from a back injury can be tricky. We've got to give more time to him. it was good to see him on the park. That was important for us, and he got a crucial wicket," Rohit said.

"Slowly and steadily, he's coming back to his rhythm. It was good to see him bowling full throttle, but as a team we're not going to analyse this too much, we just want to let him come and enjoy his game."

The threat of heavy rain in Jamaica over the upcoming weekend has caused the postponement of rounds six and seven of the ongoing Jamaica T20 Bashment.

CEO of the Jamaica Cricket Association, Courtney Francis, issued a memo to all teams notifying them of the postponement on Thursday of the matches that were scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.

“In light of the information from the Met Office of Jamaica, the JCA T20 Bashment matches originally scheduled for this weekend of September 24 & 25, 2022 are rescheduled for the following weekend of October 1 & 2, 2022. The fixtures will be adjusted by one week to accommodate the remainder of the competition. Best if we err on the side of caution,” Francis said.

“The JCA is impressing upon each individual to listen and watch for weather updates and advisories. Getting up to date information is an important part of you and your loved ones staying safe during what may be a challenging few days ahead,” he added.

Rounds six and seven are the last games of the preliminary round and will determine who advances to the quarterfinals.

Guyana Amazon Warriors made it two from two in their home leg of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a thrilling run chase to defeat the Saint Lucia Kings on Thursday night.

The Kings won the toss and opted to bat first, and their captain Faf Du Plessis showed why with a magnificent century to lead the way.

His 103 came off 59 balls to help his side set the highest team total in the Hero CPL this year. An outstanding 194-5 looked like an unshakeable target but the Amazon Warriors had other ideas.

Rahmunullah Gurbaz and Chandrapaul Hemraj got the Amazon Warriors' reply off to a fantastic start reaching 71 runs at the end of the PowerPlay and that enabled the Warriors to always be in the hunt for victory. Despite a flurry of wickets after the PowerPlay, Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer paced the chase superbly and the Warriors were able to get home with four balls to spare. 

Earlier the Kings had shown what a good wicket it was, teeing off from ball one to reach 100 runs in 10 overs. Du Plessis was faultless in his stroke play targeting all corners of the ground and brought up his century in the 17th over of the match.

Late runs from Roston Chase helped the Kings set the Warriors 195 to win but if the chase seemed insurmountable the Warriors made light of it in front of a fever-pitch Providence crowd.

 Gurbaz set the tone in the PowerPlay blasting 52 off 26 balls and this laid the platform for Hope and Hetmyer to pace the remainder of the chase appropriately. When Hetmyer fell for 36, Hope simply took up the mantle leading the Warriors home with a superb half-century.

 His 59 runs came off 30 balls as he made it back-to-back fifties in the Hero CPL and consecutive wins for the Amazon Warriors.

Scores: Guyana Amazon Warriors 195-4 (Hope 59*, Gurbaz 52; Deyal 2-32, Joseph 1-20) beat Saint Lucia Kings 194-5 (Du Plessis 103, Dickwella 36; Al Hasan 2-33, Shepherd 1-19) by 6 wickets.

 

West Indies Women suffered a 2-wicket defeat in the 2nd CG United One Day International against New Zealand Women at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Thursday.

Winning the toss and batting first, the West Indies Women posted 169/9 from their 50 overs. Skipper Hayley Matthews top-scored with an 82-ball 46 followed by another commendable performance with the bat from Chinelle Henry with 30.

Debutant Eden Carson finished with figures of 3-31 from her eight overs.

In reply, New Zealand nervously got to their target for the loss of 8 wickets in 40.1 overs, with Hayley Jensen smashing a boundary for the winnings runs.

Maddy Green top-scored with 48 while Lauren Down added 33 against Karishma Ramharack’s career-best figures of 3-22 from six overs.

Both teams meet on Sunday September 25 for the 3rd CG United ODI at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. First ball is 9:30am Eastern Caribbean/8:30am Jamaica time.

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots secured a seven-run win over the Trinbago Knight Riders to stay in contention for a 2022 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) play-off spot on Thursday.

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots won the toss and chose to bat in this must-win game, but were restricted early on as the Knight Riders rotated five bowlers across the powerplay. Sherfane Rutherford would change the complexion of the innings with a brilliant 78 runs, aided by a spectacular cameo from Dewald Brevis, to take the Patriots to 163-6. 

In their chase, the Trinbago Knight Riders struggled to build partnerships as wickets consistently fell. Despite this, they remained with a chance of winning the match as Tim Seifert and Andre Russell scored crucial late runs, but it proved to be in vain as they could only muster 156-7, losing by seven runs. 

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots were frustrated by the bowling of the Knight Riders in the first 10 overs, reaching 43-3 and having lost the key wicket of Evin Lewis. Rutherford would then shoulder the responsibility of carrying the innings as he patiently scored runs before accelerating in the last three overs, to finish on 78 runs. Brevis would remarkably score 30 runs from just six balls, constantly clearing the boundary to propel the Patriots to 163-6. 

 Trinbago Knight Riders lost the early wickets of Leonardo Julien and Colin Munro in their chase, with spinners Kevin Sinclair and Rashid Khan restricting runs. Kieron Pollard and Nicholas Pooran would then lose their wickets as the Knight Riders found themselves in serious trouble.

Seifert kept the chase alive with a valiant half-century. Despite Russell scoring 18 runs in the 19th over, it was not to be enough as Sheldon Cottrell delivered a composed final over to take the Patriots to victory..

Scores: St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 163-6 (Rutherford 78, Brevis 30*; Dupavillon 3-38, Patel 1-7) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 156-7 (Seifert 59, Pollard 31; Cottrell 3-33, Sinclair 2-18) by seven runs.

 

 

Babar Azam became the first Pakistan player to score two Twenty20 International centuries as they levelled the series with a record-breaking 10-wicket win over England.

The tourists looked to have given themselves a great chance of going 2-0 up by posting 199-5 at the National Stadium in Karachi on Thursday, but Babar and Rizwan stole the show with a stunning world record stand in a T20I run chase of 203.

Shahnawaz Dahani (2-37) struck twice in as many balls to get rid of Alex Hales (26) and Dawid Malan (0) before Phil Salt fell for 30, with Moeen Ali having won the toss and elected to bat first.

Ben Duckett hit a quickfire 43 and Harry Brook a brisk 31, with stand-in captain Moeen then blasting an unbeaten 55 from only 23 deliveries to set Pakistan 200 to win, Haris Rauf taking 2-30 from his four overs.

Skipper Babar and Rizwan showed their class as they brought up a century stand in just 69 balls, Hales left to rue dropping the wicketkeeper-batter on 23 as he made a third consecutive half-century.

The prolific Babar brought up his hundred in the 18th over and finished unbeaten on 110 from 66 balls in a masterclass, with the in-form Rizwan 88 not out off 51 deliveries as England were left not knowing what had him them.

Babar cleared the rope six five times and hit 11 fours, while Rizwan launched four sixes and five fours as they showed a combination of timing and power.

Babar reaches another milestone in style

The incredible Babar surged past the 8,000-run mark in T20s in his latest masterful knock. He reached that milestone in his 218 innings, with only Chris Gayle (213) needing fewer to rack up 8,000.

He also now holds the record for the most centuries as Pakistan captain with 10 ahead of the great Inzamam-ul-Haq.

Moeen fireworks in vain, Duckett catches the eye

While England were unable to make an impact in the field due to the brilliant of Pakistan's openers, they impressed with the bat.

Moeen hit four sixes and as many fours, while Duckett looked in great touch before he departed when well set, hitting seven boundaries.

Guyana Amazon Warriors got off to a winning start on their home leg of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a thrilling victory over the Jamaica Tallawahs on Wednesday night.

The Tallawahs won the toss and opted to field first and but for the final three overs of the Amazon Warriors innings that seemed like an inspired decision.

Restricting the Amazon Warriors to 104-7 after 17 overs the Tallawahs looked in full control but Odean Smith and Keemo Paul added 74 from 27 balls to guide the Amazon Warriors to a magnificent 178-8.

 The total looked beyond the Tallawahs but Brandon King led a lone charge with the first Hero CPL century of the tournament. Taking the chase down to the final over, King was dismissed with three balls to go and with that victory slipped out of The Tallawahs' reach.

 Earlier the Tallawahs had taken control of the match with their cadre of spinners tying the Amazon Warriors in knots.

 Other than Shai Hope who hit a sparkling 60 from 45 balls no other batter was able to get to grips with the conditions and when Gudakesh Motie fell in the 16th over to leave the Amazon Warriors 98-7 it felt like Jamaica’s game to lose.

 That was until Smith and Paul produced a quite remarkable display of power hitting to blast the Amazon Warriors to an improbable total. 74 runs were plundered off the final three overs to set the Tallawahs an unlikely 179 to win.

 If 179 was unlikely, Brandon King clearly did not read the script. His one-man mission to chase down the total nearly pulled off an unlikely heist. Hitting shots all over the ground King reached an unbeaten 80 from 55 balls when the rain came down to interrupt the match.

When play resumed King marched serenely to his century but he could not see the chase home falling with three balls to spare and with that the Tallawahs' hopes were extinguished. 

 ScoresGuyana Amazon Warriors 178-8 (Hope 60, Smith 42; Nabi 3-12, Green 2-24) beat Jamaica Tallawahs 166 (King 104, Mckenzie 15; Tahir 2-17, Smith 2-26) by 12 runs.

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