Time to conclude our coverage from the first Qualifier match of CPL 2025 between St Lucia Kings and Guyana Amazon Warriors. This match was all about redemption and the stubbornness of not giving up. Kings tail-enders fought very well till the final over of the innings but fell short of the target by 14 runs.
Now the Guyana Amazon Warriors will come up for the grand finale for the 3rd consecutive time on Sunday night while the St Lucia Kings will get another opportunity as they will meet Trinbago Knight Riders in the second Qualifier on Friday night.
For now, this is Saptak Sanyal signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Karthik Raj and the scorer/analyst of this game Ghanendra Singh Thakur. Have a good day.
Highest Individual Score Batting at Number 10 or Lower in CPL:
34*- Dominic Drakes (St Kitts & Nevis Patriots) vs Barbados Tridents, Basseterre, 2019
29*- Samuel Badree (Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel) vs Jamaica Tallawahs, Kingston, 2015
26*- Rashid Khan (Barbados Tridents) vs St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, Tarouba, 2020
26*- Sheldon Cottrell (St Kitts & Nevis Patriots) vs St Lucia Zouks, Tarouba, 2020
Imran Tahir (Guyana Amazon Warriors Captain):"It was a great game. Was very tight in the end but we got over the line. We were 10-15 short. I told the boys we have to believe that we can defend it. Very proud of the way we bowled, we fielded. Particularly (Dwaine) Pretorius, (Gudakesh) Motie. It is a great feeling to be in the final in front of the Guyana fans. Very pleased, we showed good character. We have been up and down this season but we are in the final now. We need a day to rest. Will think about a couple of things where we could improve."
David Wiese (St Lucia Kings Captain):"Yeah definitely I think our bowlers put in a great effort. Bundling them out to 157 is what I will take with both hands. I thought we executed our skills pretty well.
Unfortunately we didn't give ourselves a chance while chasing. We could've batted a bit more in the middle. At the end, it became too much for our tail-enders. It is good to see Pierre come up and even Tymal Mills get some runs. Now we have a lot of good batters up in the order. Now we have to take the responsibility.
Just basically we need to take the learning from this game and move onto the next game."
Gudakesh Motie (Player of the Match):"It was an amazing match. We played well in all three departments. We went out with a positive mindset and I am happy we came out on top. I have been putting in a lot of work on my bowling in the last few weeks. I am doing a lot of work on all three aspects. We know how important this match was. Happy that I could stand up. Just want to say, Thank you to the fans for coming out. There is a big match on Sunday. We will give you what you want."
Gudakesh Motie has been named as the 'Player of the Match'.
8:56 AM IST and 11:26 PM Local Time | A cliffhanger of an encounter has ended in the favour of the Guyana Amazon Warriors as they qualifies for the CPL finale for the 8th time and 3rd consecutive time. They will come again on Sunday night for the summit clash while St Lucia Kings will meet TKR in the second qualifier on Friday.
David Wiese won the toss and sent the Guyana Amazon Warriors to bat first. Ben McDermott gave them a good start as he scored 34 off 27 balls with 5 fours and a maximum before getting dismissed in the final ball of the powerplay. Quentin Sampson hit two maximums after the powerplay but found Jones off Wiese on 17.
Amazon Warriors' issue was the ephemeral stay of the middle order batters. Shimron Hetmyer, Shamarh Brooks, Hassan Khan and Moeen Ali got out for cheap scores and that led the burden to fall on Shai Hope. Hope played an anchor's knock of 32 runs from 29 balls. A couple of cameos from Dwaine Pretorius (17) and Romario Shepherd (21) propelled them to 157 before they got bundled out.
For the St Lucia Kings, Tabraiz Shamsi took 3 wickets for 33 runs. Tymal Mills, Alzarri Joseph and David Wiese took a couple of wickets. Roston Chase took a wicket.
Coming to chase the 158-run target, St Lucia Kings lost wickets in clusters early in the innings. They lost Tim Seifert, Johnson Charles and Ackeem Auguste inside the first three overs and were down to 12/3. Then Aaron Jones and Roston Chase added 28 runs for the 4th wicket but Motie knocked Chase over on 18 and Tim David in the very next ball. Aaron Jones tried to release the pressure and became the victim of Imran Tahir. David Wiese swung his bat to mistime one and found the long-off fielder and they were reduced to 48/7.
Khary Pierre decided to not give up. He had Alzarri Joseph by his side and they together scored 37 for the 8th wicket and when Joseph got out, Tymal Mills stepped up. Tymal Mills swung his bat wildly to get streaky boundaries but Pierre was hitting it with more conviction. Pierre reached his fifty in 28 balls but got out in the very next ball. But Mills added 26-runs for the final wicket for the 10th wicket with Tabraiz Shamsi. He took his side closer but got out on the first ball of the final over on his personal score of 30. Kings eventually fell just 14 runs short.
Gudakesh Motie was the star of the show picking up 4 wickets for just 30 runs. Dwaine Pretorius and Imran Tahir took a couple of wickets each. Romario Shepherd and Hassan Khan chipped in with a wicket each.