Kingsmen through to final with record-breaking victory over Amazon Warriors

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Rovman Powell’s superb cameo at the death carried his Jamaica Kingsmen to a thrilling five-wicket win over the Guyana Amazon Warriors and into the final of the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League on Friday.

Player-of-the-Match Powell’s unbeaten 40 off 17 balls with four sixes and two fours powered the Kingsmen to 207 for five with two balls remaining, in pursuit of the Amazon Warriors’ competitive 206 for four at Kensington Oval.

It was the highest successful run chase in CPL playoff history and catapulted the newly renamed franchise into its first final.

The result marked a stunning turnaround for a Kingsmen side that lost its first three matches and looked destined to miss the playoffs.

Alternatively, the loss for the Amazon Warriors was their third straight and will be a hard pill for the franchise to swallow after they won their first six games in dominant fashion to install themselves as favourites to lift the title.

Powell’s heroics overshadowed Shimron Hetmyer’s brilliant 102 not out off just 45 balls, which helped to propel the Amazon Warriors to a formidable total before a mainly Guyanese crowd at The Mecca.

The Amazon Warriors got off to a slow start, losing the wickets of Mohammad Haris and Mavendra Dindyal for nine runs apiece to slip to 20 for two in the fifth over.

However, Shai Hope and Hetmyer forged a superb 96-run partnership for the third wicket that gave them a solid foundation to launch from, after being only 37 for two at the end of the power play.

Both players started cautiously, but Hetmyer broke loose by thumping pacer Keemo Paul for six in the eighth over.

At the halfway stage they had recovered to 75 for two, and the pair signaled their intentions by scoring 20 runs off the 11th over bowled by Saim Ayub.

Hetmyer reached his 16th CPL half century off only 20 balls by smashing wrist spinner Vitel Lawes for a four and six in the next over.

Hope perished soon after, caught at deep midwicket for a well-played 40 off 33 balls, to leave the score 116 for three in the 13th over.

Hetmyer then shared a 65-run stand with Quentin Sampson who scored a brisk 29 off 17 balls, to put the Amazon Warriors on track for a mammoth score.

Sampson was eventually caught at long on off the bowling of Andre Russell in the 18th over, and it looked as though Hetmyer would fall just short of his second century of the season.

He was on 92 with two balls remaining in the innings, but hit Russell for a six over midwicket and then steered him for a four over third man to reach the milestone off the last ball.

In all, he hit eight sixes and four fours, and became the second man behind Dwayne Smith to score two centuries in a single CPL season.

Despite the daunting task at hand, the Kingsmen’s opening pair of Maaz Sadaqat and Kirk McKenzie put on 42 runs in three overs, before Sadaqat was dismissed by pacer Dwaine Pretorius for 41 off 17 balls.

Keacy Carty and McKenzie continued to keep track of the run rate during a 48-run partnership in five overs, until captain Imran Tahir broke the stand by having the latter caught for 34 off 20 balls.

Still the Kingsmen pushed on, with Carty and Ayub adding 62 runs in seven overs to carry them to 152 for two at the start of the 15th over.

Pretorius returned to have Ayub caught at short fine leg for 23 off 17 balls and Carty was unlucky to be run out for 56 off 40 balls at the non-striker’s end after a ball ricocheted off left-arm spinner Khary Pierre’s foot and onto the stumps with him short of his ground, to leave the game interestingly poised at 172 for four in the 17th over.

With 34 runs needed off 18 balls, Powell hit Tahir for a six and four in the 18th over, and dished out the same treatment to pacer Shamar Joseph in the penultimate over that went for 13 runs, to leave the Kingsmen requiring six runs from six balls.

Romario Shepherd bowled two wides and then had Andre Russell caught behind, but new batter Hassan Khan picked up two runs off the third and fourth balls respectively, to seal the result.

The Kingsmen will face the Antigua & Barbuda Falcons in Sunday’s final at the same venue.

Summarised Scores

GUYANA AMAZON WARRIORS 206-4 in 20 overs (Shimron Hetmyer 102 not out, Shai Hope 40, Quentin Sampson 29, Romario Shepherd 10 not out) vs JAMAICA KINGSMEN 207-5 in 19.4 overs (Keacy Carty 56, Maaz Sadaqat 41, Rovman Powell 40 not out, Kirk McKenzie 33, Saim Ayub 23; Dwaine Pretorius 2-37).

(CMC)