Hero CPL t20 cricket… Gayle’s SKNP beat Warriors for first time by 4 wkts despite 60 from Walton

Aug 06, 2017 Sports, http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....pite-60-from-walton/

By Sean Devers in Florida
In association with Carib Beer
Vnet Communications, Ming’s Services & Products
& Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club

In an atmosphere less riveting than last year, a less than capacity crowd turned out on an extremely hot and humid day for the opening game here in Florida between the Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) and the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots (SKNP) and when the dust had settled SKNP had emerged victorious by four wickets yesterday.
A 51-ball 60 with three fours and two sixes from Jamaican Keeper Chadwick Walton was the bright spot for the Warriors as only Skipper Martin Guptill (23) and Babar Azam (21) of the others reached double figures as the Guyanese Franchise limped to 123-7 off 20 overs.
Left-arm pacer Sheldon Cotterell finished with 2-18 including a last over maiden, while Hasan Ali had 2-19 for SKNP who reached 124-6 from 19 overs.
Carlos Braithwaite who hammered 31 from 19 balls with three sixes and two fours and Jonathan Carter unbeaten on 29 from 30 saw the SKNP home as Jacobs (2-23) and Rayed Emrit (2-14) were the main wicket takers for the Warriors who suffered their first ever loss to SKNP.
SKNP won the toss and invited the Warriors to bat first on a flat track under a blue sky. Guptill clipped the first ball of the game from Jamaican Cotterell for four and hit him for six over mid-wicket before Braithwaite at mid-off put down a regulation catch to let off Walton in Samuel Badree’s first over and the second of the match.
Braithwaite floored another catch, this time off the bowling of Cotterell to let off Guptill who then hit Badree over the head of mid-off and back past the bowler for boundaries. But Badree, a School Teacher in Trinidad, taught Guptill a lesson when the Warriors Captain was bowled for 23 from 14 balls with three fours and a six in the fourth over with the score on 31-1.
Azam joined Walton who swept Badree for four but the run rate dropped when the pair joined forces as Azam struggled to score freely and took 30 balls for his 21 with just a single boundary before he was removed by Braithwaite at 72-3 in 12.4 overs.
Jason Mohammed (4) was then caught behind by Devon Thomas seven runs and eight balls later as the Warriors continued to score at pedestrian pace on the lush green outfield as Hassan Ali, who also got rid of home boy Steven Taylor (7), struck twice in the space of 12 runs as the Warriors slipped to 95-4 in the 17th over.
Walton finally changed gear and brought up the hundred with a boundary which took him in the forties but he raced to fifty with a couple of sixes off Badree before being taken on the boundary in the final over, while Kemo Paul (6) was stupendously caught by a diving Carter running in from deep mid-wicket as Cotterell struck at 122-6.
Sohail Tanvir (0) was then run out off the penultimate ball as Cotterell who rebounded from his first two overs conceding 18 runs to finish with a maiden.
SKNP began their reply the left-handed pair off Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis and Tanvir, the Warriors’ leading wicket-taker last year, conceding just two in the opening over.
Jacobs trapped Lewis (1) LBW with his first ball, while new batsman Mohammed Hafeez pounced on a short wide ball and smashed the off-spinner delightfully past point for four.
Tanvir produced a short one which kicked and beat Gayle outside his off stump as the Jamaican, built like a heavyweight Boxer, got going with a flicked boundary off Tanvir.
Gayle clobbered Jacobs over long-off for six and was already beginning to look ominous, while Hafeez cut Jacobs as elegantly as former West Indies batsman Lawrence Rowe who lives here in Florida.
With the cheerleaders dancing to pulsating music in sweltering heat, Emrit struck a crucial blow when Gayle miss-hit him and was caught at mid-on at 26-2 and the Warriors fans in the stands danced to the roll of Tasa drums and waved the Golden Arrow Head lustily as Emrit finished with a maiden wicket.
Just when Hafeez was being to flow, Emrit struck again by removing him at 35-3 in the seventh over before Rashid Khan was introduced in the sixth.
Brandon King survived a confident stumping appeal but swept Khan for six, two balls later before substitute Assad Fudadin, at long-on dropped him off Jacobs.
Left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul replaced Khan from the northern end and with his nemesis Gayle out of the way, his first over cost six runs.
Thomas (4) was needlessly run out by a direct hit by Khan and King was bowled by the frugal Jacobs as SKNP slipped to 57-5 in the 11th over.
Braithwaite got going with a huge six off Permaul before his Red bat flayed the Berbician for two more sixes to take the score to 88-5 in the 14th over.
Braithwaite, famous for his four consecutive sixes in the t20 World Cup, smashed Emrit for six and four off successive balls but Tanvir returned and got rid of the West Indies t20 Captain at 106-6.
Khan’s over cost six runs and with 10 needed from 12 balls Jonathan Carter stroked Tanvir for four and the match was over with an over to spare. Guptill conceded that the batting let the team down while saying the pitch was a bit slower than was expected.
“You can hardly get ideal conditions everywhere you go, St Kitts bowled well. Our top four is settled for now and we are likely to stick to it again tomorrow,” said Guptill.
Scores: St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots 124-6 (Brathwaite 31, Carter 29*, Emrit 2 for 14, Jacobs 2-23) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 123-7 (Walton 60, Cottrell 2 for 18, Ali 2 for 19) by 4 wickets with 6 balls to spare.
Today’s Fixtures:
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots v Guyana Amazon Warriors (11am), Lauderhill
Jamaica Tallawahs v Barbados Tridents (3pm), Lauderhill