Earlier Azam Khan’s destructive innings and later the bowler’s great performance helped Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) to get a win over Jamaica Tallawahs (JT). Guyana won the match by 81 runs.
GAW posted 182/6 in 20 overs and in reply JT only manages to put 101/10 in 15.2 overs on the board.
Now the final will be played between Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) and GAW. Earlier Warriors lost the match against Knight Riders in the Qualifier 1 by 7 wickets. While Jamaica won the match against St Lucia Kings (SLK) in Eliminator by 5 wickets.
After winning the toss, Tallawahs opted to bowl first.
Guyana didn’t start well and lost both their openers at 54 runs. Saim Ayub (20 runs) and Kelvon Anderson (4 runs) unable to contribute much. The middle order batters Shai Hope (40 runs), Shimron Hetmyer (31 runs) and Azam Khan (54 runs) backs the team on the track again.
Hope and Hetmyer batted sensibly and they were scoring runs at a pretty good pace. After their departure Azam was looking highly destructive from the beginning and hit 5 fours and 4 sixes in his innings. He took only 27 balls to reach there and out before just two balls remained in the innings. As a result, Warriors posted 182 runs in 20 overs by losing 6 wickets.
Shamar Springer and Nicholson Gordon took 2 wickets each. Mohammad Amir and Raymon Reifer got 1 wicket each.
Jamaica’s batting was struggling from the starting and only three batsmen were seen scoring in double digits. Imad Wasim (43 runs) was the highest scorer from the side. The other two batters who scored in double digits were Alex Hales (15 runs) and Fabian Allen (11 runs). Imad tried to take the match deeper but unfortunately he didn’t get any support from the other end. He hit 5 fours and a six in his innings. Finally they managed to get 101 runs in 15.2 overs and lost all their wickets.
Guyana bowlers did a tremendous job by stopping the Tallawahs batters. Imran Tahir the skipper leading from the front and got 3 useful wickets while Dwaine Pretorious got 2 wickets. Romario Shepherd, Gudakesh Motie, Odean Smith and Ronsford Beaton got 1 wicket each.
Dwaine Pretorious, GAW, Player of the Match
“As a team we had a point to prove tonight. The boys are hungry to get the cup for the whole country and the crowd. The award, I don’t think, belongs to me, it belongs to Azam, I want to give it to him.”
Azam Khan, GAW
“We lost a couple of wickets early. We knew that the pitch was going to be tricky. I backed myself and was confident that I could take the game on. It’s about testing your nerves in the big game and that’s what I was trying to do, which is to play my natural strokes. Dwaine was great, especially with the new ball, very sweet of him to give his Player of the Match award to me, but he’s a wonderful guy and really happy for him.”
Brandon King, JT Captain
“I don’t think we bowled very badly. Credit to Azam, he batted really well. We don’t think the target was out of reach. I am not 100%, but I tried my best to give my 100%. The focus is on my role and I am glad for this captaincy experience. Imad was brilliant for us, Amir with the new ball as well. Very consistent players for us. Gordon is one to look out for in the future.”
Imran Tahir, GAW Captain
“Feel very proud. Everyone chipped in and it’s been the story for the whole season. They worked really hard and really good to see Azam get some runs. Really happy to see both Azam and Hetmyer get some runs today. We have been in this situation many times before, including myself, you have to have some nerves. We deserve to be in the final for the way we played throughout the competition.
We got stability with the bat, we did speak about it. We just need to focus on playing the game with freedom and execute our plans. We are hoping that Keemo will be fit for the final and he really wants to do something special for the team. Thanks to all the crowd and all the Guyanese people all around the world for your support.”