Guyana Amazon Warriors shrugged off their humbling Qualifier 1 experience of being bundled out for 76 to post 206/4, but it proved to be insufficient in the second qualifier as Jamaica Kingsmen chased it down with five wickets and two balls to spare. Kingsmen didn’t just chase a 200-plus total on a big night, they did it while showing that in T20, a batting unit can be greater than the sum of its parts. Shimron Hetmyer was front and centre of the first innings after Kingsmen chose to bowl, smashing eight sixes on his way to a whirlwind 45-ball 102*. But Kingsmen overcame that with the combined batting might of their top-five, each making a sizeable contribution towards the chase.
First, about Hetmyer. He walked in at 20/2 in the fifth over and carried the weight of recent low scores on his shoulders. He eased some of that with a six each against Saim Ayub and Keemo Paul after the Powerplay. At the halfway stage, Warriors pushed to 75/2 with Hetmyer revving up on 27* (14). Ayub was at the receiving end of the gear shift, as he conceded two sixes to Hetmyer in an over that cost 20 runs. In the 12th over, Hetmyer smashed Vital Lawes for a six to reach a 20-ball half-century. Shai Hope, the next best scorer for the team, got out for a 33-ball 40 in the 13th over but Quentin Sampson arrived and teed off right away. Hetmyer continued to get runs easily from the other end, and wrapped up the innings with big hits – the last two off Andre Russell in the 20th over taking him to his century. It also took the Warriors to 206/4.
Maaz Sadaqat was the first of Kingsmen’s many protagonists in chase, taking on Pretorius and Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the Powerplay. He faced 17 of the 18 deliveries in the first three overs and took 41 runs from it – 38 of those coming in fours and sixes. On the final ball of the third over he was dismissed, but he’d done enough to give the Kingsmen the ideal start in a big chase. Kirk McKenzie went on a four-hitting spree to squeeze out what was left in the Powerplay, hitting five of them to guide Kingsmen to 75/1 in 6 overs.
Kaecy Carty – who top-scored in chase, went after Imran Tahir in the seventh over, hitting him for a six while McKenzie launched a ball from Mehidy into the stands. Tahir took out McKenzie but not before the opener had scored 34 off just 20 balls. Ayub and Carty then added 62 off 41 deliveries to ensure the chase was on track. They took their team to 101/2 in 10 overs and upped the ante in the next couple of overs where they took 17 off Shamar Joseph and 15 from Mehidy – who finished with figures of 0/43 in 4 overs.
The chase got to a point where the Kingsmen needed 55 off 30 balls when Pretorius dismissed Ayub for a 17-ball 23. But that brought Rovman Powell to the middle who took the death overs by the scruff of its neck. He started out by laying into Khary Pierre in the 17th over with two big sixes. Kingsmen lost Carty for 56 to a run-out and the game remained on the edge with the chasing side needing 34 off 18. Powell tipped the scales in his team’s favour with a six and a four off Tahir’s over that fetched 15 runs. He then sent a Shamar Joseph delivery to the roof of the stands on the leg side to drag the equation down to 8 off 10. Joseph bounced back well to give away only two more in the over, leaving Russell to defend six off six. That went down to 4 off 4, but Hassan Khan and Powell (40* off 17) saw it through.
Brief Scores: Guyana Amazon Warriors 206/4 in 20 overs (Shimron Hetmyer 102*, Shai Hope 40; Hassan Khan 1-25) lost to Jamaica Kingsmen 207/5 in 19.4 overs (Keacy Carty 56, Maaz Sadaqat 41, Rovman Powell 40*, Kirk McKenzie 34; Dwaine Pretorius 2-37) by 5 wickets
