Guyana Amazon Warriors wins first match of Caribbean Premier League 2021

On Thursday, Guyana Amazon Warriors kicked off the Caribbean Premier League 2021 (CPL) with a nine-run victory over defending champion Trinbago Knight Riders.

The Knight Riders gained victory in the toss and gave the Amazon Warriors in bat, and despite Shimron Hetmyer's half-century, they were able to limit their opponents to 142/7. However, the Amazon Warriors have produced a good show with the ball, getting wickets at frequent intervals to get their game off to a dazzling start.

The Amazon Warriors started their innings well with Chandrapaul Hemraj striking out two sixes, but Sunil Narine sent off. The team then made a surprise appearance with the hard-hitting Odean Smith and the bat at number 3 to maximize the PowerPlay Overs.

Smith supported his improvement with 24 runs from 15 balls, but once he dropped, the Amazon Warriors Innings lost momentum and battled them at halftime to 57/3.

When Isuru Udana took off Shoaib Malik for two hard runs of 12 balls, and Akeal Hosein fired Mohammed Hafeez shortly afterwards, Guyana was struggling to post a competitive score.

Skipper Nicholas Pooran came in with five overs and tried to raise the ante with Shimron Hetmyer, but the captain then befell to a fantastic catch by Darren Bravo on the boundary.

Vice-captain Hetmyer, who had completely anchored the Innings, came to his death with some amusing blows to shoot the first half-century of the CPL 2021 and ensure that Guyana ended up with a fight overall.

Despite losing the wickets of Lendl Simmons and Colin Munro in PowerPlay, the Knights Riders were ahead of the game at the end of the 6 overs.

The main point arrived with Imran Tahir as he quickly took down Sunil Narine and Bravo and the Amazon Warriors, then proceeded to take wickets at regular intervals.

Knight Riders quickly found themselves at 78/5 after 12 overs, and it went from bad to worse for the defending champions as Romario Shepherd got Kieron Pollard and Pooran for two runs.