(CPL) A brilliant innings of 65 from Brad Hodge and a maiden T20 half century from Assad Fudadin set up a thumping victory for the Guyana Amazon Warriors over the Appleton Estate Jamaica Tallawahs in the Hero Caribbean Premier League.
Having been set 180 to win the Tallawahs needed yet another big performance from their captain, Chris Gayle, but when he departed early the home side crumbled to 95 all out, losing by 84 runs. Three wickets in four balls from the Amazon Warriors’ Ronsford Beaton ended the game in emphatic fashion.
Having lost the toss and been put into bat, the Amazon Warriors struggled at first. In a move that is very familiar it was Daniel Vettori who once again combined with Krishmar Santokie with the new ball and, has so often been the case, the two men kept it very tight. At the end of the third over the Amazon Warriors had only managed nine runs, and their innings did not really get going until the fifth over. It was then that Lendl Simmons took 14 off an Andre Russell over to get the rate up to a run a ball.
By the end of the Powerplay the Amazon Warriors had reached 39-0 and had a platform from which to build a winning total. Simmons was going along at a decent rate, but his opening partner was struggling. Assad Fudadin found it hard to rotate the strike. The Amazon Warriors had not lost a wicket by the halfway stage, but they only had 71 runs on the board.
When Simmons departed to the first ball of the 11th over for 36 (32), caught by Rusty Theron off Andre Russell’s bowling, Fudadin kicked on. He made 20 runs in nine balls immediately after Simmons departed to bring up his first ever fifty in T20 cricket.
The Tallawahs had a chance to dismiss Fudadin for 52 but Jerome Taylor shelled the simplest of catches running in from long off. Narsingh Deonarine was the unlucky bowler. Fortunately for the Tallawahs, the drop was not too expensive, Fudadin departing in the next over for 54 off 43 balls when he was caught in the deep off Santokie.
After Fudadin’s dismissal Brad Hodge did what he has been doing so often for the last decade in this format of the game. The veteran Australian blasted 65 off 30 balls, an innings that allowed the Amazon Warriors to post 179-3 as the man, second on the all-time T20 run scoring list, proved his worth.
This would be a tough ask for the Tallawahs who have struggled to perform when Chris Gayle has failed, fortunately for them failures have been rare of late. Gayle is the only batsman with more runs than Hodge, and he has been vital for Jamaican success this season. He has made four scores of over fifty and each of those have resulted in a Tallawahs win.
Gayle wasn’t the first to depart, Chadwick Walton fell for a duck in the second over, but he did fall early. Gayle made just 11 runs before he was well caught by Ronsford Beaton off Sunil Narine’s first over.
Once the Tallawahs’ captain had gone there was another procession of wickets. Nkrumah Bonner was dismissed to a slog off Veerasammy Permaul and Chris Lynn went in the next over when he was caught at third man for 16 (14) off Marchant de Lange. That left the Tallawahs 37-4 at the end of the Powerplay.
It became 54-5 when Jermaine Blackwood was superbly caught on the point boundary by Lendl Simmons for nine runs. Blackwood departed in the 10th over and by then the chase of the Tallawahs getting anywhere close to the target was already remote, but Andre Russell isn’t the kind of player to give up without a fight.
He was doing his best to rescue the match when he was bowled by South African paceman David Wiese who was playing in his first match of this year’s tournament to leave the Tallawahs reeling at 93-6. Russell’s 28 from 14 balls was the highest score for the Tallawahs as the remaining wickets fell for just two runs.
This win lifts the Amazon Warriors off the foot of the table, although it is important to remember that the Guyanese side have as many as three games in hand and that all of their remaining fixtures will be at home. For the Tallawahs, they are still well placed to qualify for the latter stages of the tournament but if they hope to get close to winning the event they will need to find consistency.
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