Ali, Hope power Amazon Warriors into CPL final

PROVIDENCE, Guyana (CMC):

A PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH performance from Moeen Ali doubled by a Shai Hope half-century sent the Guyana Amazon Warriors into their second successive Caribbean Premier League (CPL) final after they trounced the Barbados Royals by eight wickets in Qualifier Two at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Friday.

Ali snared two wickets, including the crucial one of skipper Rovman Powell, as the Royals were dismissed for 148 in their 20 overs.

The former England international then returned to crack an unbeaten 44 from 35 balls at the top of the order, while Hope scored 56 from 33 to guide the Warriors to 149 for two in 14.3 overs.

The result means that the defending champions will clash with the St Lucia Kings, who defeated them in the Eliminator, in Sunday night’s CPL final.

When it mattered most, the Royals produced another subpar batting performance, with only one batsman scoring over 30.

Opener Quinton de Kock made a run-a-ball 15 before he was caught by spinner Gudakesh Motie, and Rahkeem Cornwall struck four boundaries before he, too, was back in the pavilion when medium pacer Romario Shepherd trapped him lbw for 19 to leave the score at 36 for two after five overs.

Alick Athanaze, who made 26, and Kadeem Alleyne, who scored 11, came together to add 37 for the third wicket to help steady the Royals’ innings.

But when Alleyne was spectacularly caught by Shimron Hetmyer running in from the long-off boundary off the bowling of Ali, it triggered a collapse that saw the Royals lose three wickets for 14.

Athanaze was caught at long on trying to hit spinner Imran Tahir out of the ground, and Powell made 12 before he suffered the same fate trying to launch Ali as the Royals slumped to 87 for five at the end of 12 overs.

It took a 52-run partnership between Miller and Jason Holder to help rescue the Royals’ innings and add some respectability to the total.

When Miller was eventually dismissed by pacer Dwaine Pretorius for the top score of 36 from 26 balls, the Royals’ lower order could only muster nine from the final two overs, culminating with the run-out of Maheesh Theekshana off the last ball of the innings.

Romario Shepherd took 3-35 and Ali, 2-24 to be the main destroyers for the Warriors.

The Warriors’ opening pair of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ali started slowly, accumulating 14 runs from the first two overs.

However, Gurbaz smashed Theekshana for two back-to-back sixes in the third over that yielded 15 runs, and he was even more severe on Naveen-ul-Haq, who he hit for a six and two boundaries in an expensive fourth over that went for 18 to help the Warriors motor along to 47 without loss after four.

But after lashing 40 from just 18 balls, Gurbaz top-edged Theekshana to long on, where ul-Haq took the catch to give the Royals their first breakthrough at 54 for one.

However, there would be little more for them to celebrate about as Hope’s arrival to the crease sparked a 93-run partnership with Ali to effectively end the contest.

The sixth over, bowled by Jason Holder, went for 18 runs, with Hope hitting him for a six and two fours, and off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall was also hit for a six and a boundary in the eighth over that cost 14 runs, as the Warriors reached 90 for one.

Hope eventually reached his half-century off 26 balls when he slapped pacer Ramon Simmonds to deep extra cover for two.

The pair looked on course to carry their team to victory, but with two runs required, Simmonds produced a perfect yorker to bowl Hope for 56.

In all, he faced 33 balls and struck six fours and two sixes.

Two balls later, it was all over, with Ali fittingly hitting the winning runs to keep the Warriors’ hopes of becoming just the second team to win back-to-back CPL titles alive.