Finally after five losses in the final, Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) made it in their sixth final of the CPL. They defeated the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) by 9 wickets in the final.
A pure dominance shown by the Guyana boys. They were brilliant in every aspect and made it one sided. Earlier they lost Qualifier 1 from the TKR by 7 wickets, where Knight Riders showed their dominance over there. But this time they didn’t make any mistakes and held the trophy finally.
Warriors like their name also played like warriors as they only lost one match in the league stages and one in the Super Four. In the final, Guyana after winning the toss opted to bowl first. Trinbago after batting first posted just 94/10 runs in 18.1 overs which Guyana chased down easily in 14 overs and scored 99/1.
TKR who won the most trophies in this tournament were expected to be the hot favourite again, but they couldn’t show up their performance as expected. Only three batters were seen in double digit. Keacy Carty (38 runs) was the highest scorer from the side. But he took 45 balls to reach there with a strike rate of 84.44 and hit 2 boundaries and a six.
The other two batters were Mark Deyal (16 runs) and Chadwick Walton (10 runs) who touched the double digit mark. The hard hitters of the team Nicholas Pooran (1 run), skipper Kieron Pollard (duck) and Andre Russell (3 runs) flopped with their batting which eventually led the team to a low score in the final. They only managed 94 runs and were able to play only 18.1 overs and also lost all their wickets.
Guyana bowlers showed how in the final should be bowled. All the bowlers took wickets in their spell. Not only did they get the wickets but also they provided an economical spell. The top performer was Dwaine Pretorius who grabbed 4 important wickets for his team.
Imran Tahir and Gudakesh Motie took 2 wickets each. Both the wrist spinners bowled tremendously well. Tahir in his 4 overs spell provided only 8 runs whereas Motie in his spell of 4 overs provided only 7 runs and also took a maiden over. Romario Shepherd and Ronsford Beaton got 1 wicket each.
As the target was under 5 runs per over, it was quite easy for the Warriors to get par that targeted score. Saim Ayub (52 runs) again showed his consistency and this time in the final he took his team to the final victory. In his innings he hit 2 fours and 5 sixes.
He was pretty well supported by Shai Hope (32 runs) who was the leading scorer of the tournament. Hope hit 2 boundaries in his knock. He is the main pillar of the team who batted in each situation very well. The only batter who got dismissed was Keemo Paul (11 runs). Therefore after hitting a six by Saim they achieved the target easily and scored 99 runs in 14 overs by losing only one wicket.
Akeal Hosein from the TKR managed to get that single wicket.
Dwaine Pretorius, GAW, Player of the Match
“Maybe just consistent lengths and a bit of swing. Team backed me. Our bowling unit has been very good. Restricting TKR to 94 is great. I can go to Imran who will back me to bowl in the powerplay, Prasanna for giving me the plans and Lance who also backs me.”
Shai Hope, GAW, Player of the Series
“Runs that contribute to winning are fantastic. Probably the hundred is special because I got that for the first time in this format. Just tried to score as many runs as possible to win games for the team. This franchise backed me to do what I want. It’s like a family and I am happy to be in this team. Crowds have been amazing, electrifying, this one if for you guys.”
Emerging Player of the tournament: Junior Sinclair
Full Stats and Records in 2023 CPL:
Most Runs Scored – Shai Hope (481 runs)
Most Wickets taken – Dwaine Pretorius (20 wickets)
Highest Individual Score – Alex Hales (119 runs)
Best Bowling Figures – Waqar Salamkheil (4/14)
Best Batting Average – Dominic Drakes (68.00)
Best Bowling Average – Jair McAllister (7.00)
Most half centuries – Saim Ayub (4)
Most centuries – Rahkeem Cornwall, Martin Guptill, Nicholas Pooran, Shai Hope and Alex Hales (1)
Most Four Wickets – Chris Green, Matthew Forde, Mohammad Amir, Dwaine Pretorious and Fabian Allen (1)
Best economy rates – Junior Sinclair (5.86)
Most sixes – Saim Ayub (28)
Most fours – Saim Ayub (39)