Sammy gets his Warriors off mark

CPL ROUND-UP

FRUSTRATION turned into celebrations for Guyana Amazon Warriors as they ended their drought in the CPL by beating fellow winless side St Lucia Stars.

The chase started well for the Warriors with Chadwick Walton hitting 33 off 20, as he and Martin Guptill (23) put the Warriors on track for 153.

But Jerome Taylor, Kyle Mayers, Shane Shillingford and Mitchell McClenaghan claimed a wicket apiece for the Stars to keep the required run rate slipping out of reach for their opponents.

A tense finish was set up when, in the 16th over, Jason Mohammed and Gajanand Singh attacked Shillingford for 17 runs to drag the Warriors back into the game – eight runs were required off the last over.

With two balls remaining and the Warriors needing two runs, Darren Sammy hit through deep square to end his team’s barren run.

Warriors spinner Rashid Khan picked up the man of the match award for sensational figures of 2-9 off his four overs, and said after the match: “The wickets are very good for the spinners here. I played here against West Indies and I’m used to these wickets. So I just tried to bowl in the good areas. The win was needed, it’s tough to come back if you lose three matches.”

The defeat adds to the woes of the Stars who were looking to rebound from their thrashing at the hands of the Patriots.

Evin Lewis struck the highest score of the competition with his 92 of 52 balls steering St Kitts & Nevis to a 33-run win.

In Port of Spain, Trinbago Knight Riders saw off the Barbados Tridents with five balls left thanks to a career-best 79 (45) from Sunil Narine, as the Tridents produced some fielding worthy of a circus act.

Barbados tempted fate when Shamar Springer put down Narine on 35 after he had top edged to deep square leg. A costly mistake that enabled the West Indies international to add 44 more runs and steer his side to their 153 target.

Elsewhere, the Tallawahs (179-5) beat the Stars (173-7).