South African allrounder Chris Green starred with bat and ball as the Guyana Amazon Warriors opened their 2019 Hero Caribbean Premier League campaign with a 13-run win over the St Lucia Zouks at the Providence Stadium in Guyana Thursday night.
Green first hit 28 and shared in a vital 48-run seventh-wicket partnership with Keemo Paul to steer the Warriors to 155 for nine in their 20 overs before taking two for with his off-breaks to restricting the visitors to 142 for nine.
With the win, the Warriors moved to two points alongside defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders, who won their opener against the St Kitts Nevis Patriots by 11 runs Wednesday, at the top of the six-team table early on in the tournament.
Chasing what they believed a modest total and with allrounder Rakheem Cornwall motoring on 36 with seven fours and a six from just 14 balls, Green struck the game-changing blow of the match in the sixth over.
Bowling around the wicket, Green struck the burly Cornwall directly on the toe as he played across the line to a full delivery. Cornwall didn't seem perturbed by the appeal but umpire Nigel Duguid raised the dreaded finger to send him back to the pavilion with the score on 52 for three.
Green had also struck in his second over, the third of the innings, getting Andrew McCarthy (7) to miscue his lofted drive straight into the hands of Paul at mid-off. When he removed Cornwall two overs later, the flood gates were seemingly opened.
After Conrwall's departure, only Najibullah Zadran (23) and Zouks skipper Darren Sammy (18) contributed anything of note with the bat, as there was a steady stream of Warriors batsmen back and forth to the pavilion.
In between Green's work, influential Pakistani legbreak bowler Shadab Khan bagged an economical three for 16, including the scalps of Andre Fletcher (8), Christopher Barnwell (7) and Sammy, getting the breakthrough every time the Zouks tried to rebuild.
However, the Zouks have only themselves to blame for the loss, as poor fielding saw them releasing the stranglehold they had put on the Warriors early on in the first innings.
Paul and Green came together with the Warriors reeling at 98 for six in the 16th over, after Aussie leg-break bowler Fawad Ahmed deceived their skipper Shoaib Malik with his wrong'un and had him nicely stumped by wicketkeeper Fletcher for 28.
But Paul quickly showed he did not intend to go into a shell and hit three fours and three sixes in a combination with Green (28) which took the home side to 146, before Paul finally lost his wicket trying to get maximum runs in the final over. He was caught at short third man by Fawad as he stretched to reach a widish delivery from McCoy and was never in control of his lofted shot.
Khan didn't last long, skying a lofted drive into the waiting arms of Thisara Perera at long-off before Green was run out going for a second run off the last ball of the innings.
Left-arm medium-pacer McCoy had already jolted the Warriors when he got the prized scalps of Shimron Hetmyer (24) and Nicholas Pooran (0) off consecutive balls in the 12th over, stunning the fans into silence as two of their most talismanic batsmen were back in the pavilion in a flash.
And when Malik was out three overs later, the Zouks would certainly have felt they had the match for the taking.
SUMMARISED SCORES:
GUYANA AMAZON WARRIORS 155-9 (Keemo Paul 38, Chris Green 28, Shoib Malik 28, Obed McCoy 4/41, Fawad Ahmed 2/25) v ST LUCIA ZOUKS 142-9 (Rakheem Cornwall 36, Najibullah Zadran 23, Darren Sammy 18, Shadab Khan 3/16, Romario Shepherd 2/18, Chris Green 2/28)
RESULT: AMAZON WARRIORS WON BY 13 RUNS