Providence (Guyana), Sep 29 (IANS): Jamaica Tallawahs entered in the Hero 2022 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) final after a 37-run victory over the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the second Qualifier.
They will meet Barbados Royals in the final.
The Tallawahs will now contest their third Hero CPL final. They have earlier won in 2013 and 2016. Barbados are also looking for their third win, having won in 2014 and 2019. Barbados have also lost a final in 2015.
Their super hero of the day was centurion Shamarh Brooks, who scored an unbeaten 109 in 52 balls with seven four and eight sixes in what was easily the most devastating innings of the tournament this season.
The Amazon Warriors won the toss and opted to field first. For a start, it seemed a good decision as they reduced the Tallawahs to 37/2 in the PowerPlay with Kennar Lewis and Brandon King leaving by the time the score was 16 in the third over.
There was a time when after taking the first two wickets, the Amazon Warriors seemed to be in control of the game when Raymon Reifer was dismissed for 22 to leave the Tallawahs 123/4 with five overs to go. However Brooks and Wasim launched an unbelievable assault at the back end.
Brooks hit a maiden T20 century whilst Wasim made an unbeaten 41 off 15 balls to all but secure the Tallawahs a place in the Hero CPL final.
Brooks produced one of the all-time great Hero CPL innings to guide the Tallawahs to a season high 226/4. His unbeaten 109 came off 52 balls and along with Imad Wasim the pair plundered 103 runs from the final five overs to take the game away from the Amazon Warriors.
The chase was always going to be hard going for the Amazon Warriors. Despite losing Mohammed Amir to injury the Tallawahs bowling unit produced a controlled performance that kept the Amazon Warriors in check throughout.
Keemo Paul produced a good innings of 54 from 37 balls no one else was able to stay with him to pull off an unlikely heist.
If the Amazon Warriors were to chase the 227 to win, they needed a lightning start in the PowerPlay and they got that by putting up 62 runs. However, they lost three wickets in the process thereby handing the Tallawahs an advantage going forward.
Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals as the Tallawahs bowlers put the squeeze on the Amazon Warriors. Imad Wasim was the star turn leading the bowling unit with 2/25 in the absence of Amir.
Brief scores: Jamaica Tallawahs: 226 for 4 in 20 overs (Shamarh Brooks 109 not out, Imad Wasim 41, Romario Shepherd 2/43) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 189 for 8 in 20 overs (Keemo Paul 56, Shai Hope 31, Chris Green 2/40, Imad Wasim 2/25) by 37 runs.
Man of the Match: Shamarh Brooks