Well that's it from the second game of CPL 2025! Imran Tahir and co. make a roaring start to their season! Join us back soon as we bring you all the cricketing action from around the world LIVE!
Unil then, this is Anirudh Modi, signing off along with my colleagues Karthik Raj, Saptak Sanyal and Raju Khariya! See you on the next one!
Imran Tahir (Guyana Amazon Warriors Captain): "I think we ticked all boxes but there is always room for improvement. Our pacers set the tone and the spinners bowled well in the middle. We are very pleased with the effort. The batters showed their class and as a captain you cannot ask for more.
It's dependent on the situation. Sometimes experience can lead us to do different things, but to be honest we wanted to bowl offies from both ends because they have a lot of lefties. We resisted due to the conditions but I think we won the game in the middle overs.
I am happy with McDermott, he is a great guy and wants to do really well. He delivered what we expected. He is a fantastic player, he was here a week before and did what he had to do and showed us what he is capable of.
No game is easy, it's a long competition, every game is important. We will rest for 2-3 days and go hard again in the practice sessions. We need to conserve ourselves to deliver consistently. I think I caught that."
Jason Holder (St Kitts & Nevis Patriots Captain): "(About Evin Lewis getting injured) Obviously, he is a big player for us, was a blow to lose him at that stage. Have to give credit to Guyana for how they bowled. Probably 20-25 short. We lacked a bit of intent during the 10-over mark.
I am not too disheartened by the effort. Still lot of positives to take from the game. (On looking at other bowling options) We have got the options. The pitches will tend to get slower as the tournament goes on. We will assess things and decide on our changes."
Ben McDermott (Player of the Match): "Happy to contribute and start the season with a win. I hope this continues for 10 or 11 more games but cricket is a funny game and you don't want to get ahead of yourself, but it's a nice way to start with a win.
The seamers were easier, I could not get Waqar away. There was some swing early on but it was nice to bat out there.
Hope was fantastic and is one of the best in the world. I loved batting with him and we've batted together for Hurricanes as well. It was nice to bat with him again."
Player of the Match: Ben McDermott
8:19 AM IST, 10:49 PM Local Time | Guyana came, Guyana saw and Guyana conquered! A blistering batting display from the Warriors to kick-off their season with an emphatic victory! They defeat St Kitts and Nevis by 5 wickets to open their account on the scoreboard!
A rain-delayed start as Guyana Amazon Warriors won the toss and elected to bowl first! Evin Lewis was struck with a major blow and had to retire early in the innings, and St Kitts never recovered from that. and except Andre Fletcher's 60 runs at the top, Guyana destroyed the St Kitts batting order to restrict them to a total of 153/8 at the end of their 20 overs.
Dwaine Pretorius led the attack with 3/43 from his 4 overs. While, Imran Tahir chipped in with a couple of wickets to restrict the opposition to a below-par score.
Come the chase, there was early hope for St Kitts and Nevis as Fazalhaq Farooqi found the edge of Kevon Anderson off his first delivery in the second over of the chase! However, the duo of Ben McDermott and Shai Hope had other ideas. They smacked the bowlers to all parts of the park enroute to a match-winning partnership of 114 runs for the second wicket!
Ben McDermott was in sublime form on his CPL debut, smashing a painful 75 runs off 39 balls to break the back of this chase! Shai Hope stayed on until the end to ensure his team crossed the line without any hiccups, finishing unbeaten on 56 runs!
Abbas Afridi picked up 2 wickets towards the end. While, Farooqi, Naseem and Salamkheil picked up a wicket each for St Kitts and Nevis but they were never in the game once McDermott & Hope started playing their shots.
It was a cakewalk of a chase for Guyana today and they will be ecstatic with the way they have started their season! St Kitts and Nevis on the other hand were brought down to Earth in this match, after they were flying high with a victory in the first game of the season.