The Guyana Amazon Warriors secured a stunning last ball win over the Antigua & Barbuda Falcons thanks to a brilliant batting cameo from Dwaine Pretorius. In a match that swung one way and then the other throughout it was the last gasp batting effort of the South African all-rounder who secured the win.
It was the second night in a row where the game was won off the final delivery of the match with the Falcons on the losing side both times. The Falcons had recovered from a stuttering batting display in the face of strong bowling from Gudakesh Motie to post a competitive total of 168/6.
The Warriors also struggled to maintain batting consistency throughout their innings and it looked as if the game was heading towards a Falcons’ win when the target was 47 runs from 18 balls, but a nerveless batting display from Pretorius and the Warriors tail took them to a three-wicket win.
Having won the toss, the Amazon Warriors chose to bowl first and they claimed an early breakthrough when Teddy Bishop was run out by a fine piece of fielding from Shai Hope to leave them 10/1 at the end of the second over.
After a relatively slow opening two overs and the loss of one of their openers there was a need of a rebuild, and that is what they got thanks to a 73-run stand between Fakhar Zaman and Kofi James that took the rate to close to 10 an over.
James’ wicket was the start of a Falcons collapse that saw them lose four wickets for the addition of just 29 runs. Motie was the destroyer in chief as he bowled Sam Billings with a clever delivery that beat the England batter when he advanced down the pitch. He also had Jewel Andrew caught at deep mid-wicket by Shimron Hetmyer when the 17-year-old batter tried to hit back-to-back sixes.
From there it was about Imad Wasim who played a brilliant counter attacking knock that brought the Falcons right back into this match after a middle order stumble. The Pakistani all-rounder scored 40 from 21 balls to propel the Falcons to a total that they could look to defend.
The Amazon Warriors opted to promote Motie up the order to open and he scored a six in the first over but was bowled for 6 from four balls. Gurbaz also went inside the PowerPlay when he was dismissed by a juggling catch by Shamar Springer at midwicket.
The Falcons spinners did a good job at tying down the Warriors once the fielding restrictions loosened as the rate began to climb. Shimron Hetmyer looked to steady things for the Warriors and build a platform but he was bowled by Imad. When Azam Khan hit his stumps with his bat after a vicious Springer bouncer the Warriors had stumbled to 77/4.
Shai Hope was still in the middle, and last year’s Player of the Tournament was looking dangerous in the death overs but he was bowled for 41 and it appeared that the game was gone for the Warriors with the required rate at more than 15 an over.
That was before Pretorius took 18 runs from the final six balls as the Warriors started the defence of their title in the most dramatic way possible.
