BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - The biggest party in sports the Limacol Caribbean Premier League debuted in St. Kitts yesterday amidst fun frolic, partying at the Warner Park Cricket Stadium.
With music belting out from the Party Stand and from an iron band on the Western Mound, St. Kitts and Nevis’ talent and culture was on display for the world to see.
The hype surrounding the CPL was surely met as a near capacity crowd came out to witnesses some of the top global stars of regional and international Twenty20 cricket.
In the first encounter the Guyana Amazon Warriors scored the highest total in CPL history, as they were led by New Zealander Martin Guptill who scored a brilliant 90 after his side lost Lendl Simmons and Mohamed Haffez early.
Guptill and Captain Denesh Ramdin added 114 for the third wicket as the latter quietly made 51 off 34 balls.
In the latter overs of the Amazon Warriors innings Christopher Barnwell carried his team beyond the 200 mark as he smoked 37 off 20 balls which included four mammoth sixes.
In reply an unbeaten century from captain Marlon Samuels was not enough to lift the Hawksbills over the Amazon Warriors.
Chasing a daunting target of 213 runs to win the Hawksbills team struggled early on and lost three quick wickets and was left struggling on 37-3 in the sixth over.
Following the poor start Samuels was joined by Orlando Peters and the pair added an unbeaten partnership of 161 – a new CPL record – as they led the Hawksbills’ pursuit of their target.
Samuels however suffered a leg injury in the middle of his innings and had to rely on some extraordinary hitting for his source of runs as running between the wickets was a struggle for the Jamaican.
The target of 213 was however too much for the Antiguan side as they were left needing 42 off the last over. Samuel started the final over needing fifteen for a magical century and smashed Krishmar Santokie for three sixes off the first three balls of the over and had fans in the stands ducking for cover to bring up the fastest ever CPL century of just 50 balls.
His partner Peters finished with a career best 67 off 45 balls as the Hawksbills fell 19 short of the Amazon Warriors total. The game also had the most sixes ever in a T20 game with 27
Following the game a distraught Samuels blamed his injury as the reason for his team falling short.
“We came close today and, if I had not become injured, Orlando Peters and I would have been able to take more singles and might well have won the game. As captain it can be hard to motivate the team after so many losses this year, but we have some exciting youngsters developing which is good for the future.”
The second game however provided fewer fireworks as the league leaders Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel fell to the Barbados Tridents by 69 runs.
The Trident laboured to 102-4 off 14.4 overs before the game was halted because of rain.
Following the short delay Trident Captain Keiron Pollard and Raymond Riefer added added 69 off the final five overs.
Pollard scored 34 off 15 balls which included some towering sixes one traveling 102 metres and landing deep into the football field. His partner Riefer belted 65 off 41 balls as they set the Red Steel a challenging target of 175.
However in their turn at the crease the Red Steel chase was stunted by a brilliant bowling display from Jason Holder.
Holder removed Kevin O'Brien, Evin Lewis, Ross Taylor and Dwayne Bravo as he finished with four wickets for 27 runs. He was supported by Rayad Emrit who captured three for 23.
Top scoring for the Red Steel was the 18-year-old Nicholas Pooran who scored 33 of 23 balls and showed some immense power despite his small stature.
Man of the match Holder credited his team’s fielding display as what made the difference.
“Warner Park is a small ground and the wicket is a good one for batting, but the fielding display from the team today was very impressive, and helped us win the game. We held some great catches and backed up the bowlers really well in the field. I was very pleased to get four wickets and it was a good win for us.”
