Tahir’s Five-For Seals Top Spot as Warriors Survive Scare

Guyana: Imran Tahir rolled back the years with a five-wicket haul that dismantled the Saint Lucia Kings and propelled the Guyana Amazon Warriors to the top of the points table. The veteran legspinner’s figures of 5 for 17 skittled the Kings for 119, before the Warriors recovered from a stuttering chase to complete a four-wicket victory on Wednesday.

The hosts had opted to field first, and the decision appeared questionable during a blistering Powerplay from Kamil Pooran. After Tim Seifert fell early, Pooran took charge, striking five fours and two sixes to lift the Kings to 51 for 1 after six overs. John Campbell provided steady support as the pair added 40 for the second wicket.

That partnership proved to be the high point of the Kings’ innings. Mehidy Hasan Miraz broke the stand immediately after the Powerplay, removing Campbell, and the collapse that followed was swift and severe. Seven wickets tumbled for just 19 runs as Tahir and Mehidy ran through the middle and lower order.

Tahir trapped Pooran and Roston Chase leg before wicket in the space of two overs, before Mehidy accounted for Kemol Savory and Charith Asalanka in the 11th. The legspinner then bowled McKenny Clarke and Matthew Forde in the following over, and returned to claim his fifth victim by trapping Joshua Bishop LBW in the 14th. Mehidy finished with 3 for 13, his control complementing Tahir’s wicket-taking burst.

Obus Pienaar’s 35 provided the only meaningful resistance, sharing a 38-run last-wicket stand with Maheesh Theekshana. Pienaar eventually holed out in the 19th over, and fittingly it was Tahir who took the catch to end the innings at 119 in 18.5 overs.

The chase was far from routine. The Warriors crawled to 23 for 1 at the end of the Powerplay, managing only two boundaries. Mavendra Dindyal fell, and Glenn Phillips and Shai Hope laboured through a 58-ball partnership worth 53 runs, leaving the required rate climbing.

Roston Chase kept the Kings in the contest with 3 for 34, removing three wickets in three overs as the Warriors threatened to squander their advantage. The wobble gave the Kings a sniff of an unlikely comeback.

Quentin Sampson extinguished those hopes with a brutal counterattack. He smashed five sixes in an unbeaten 37 off just 11 balls, shutting the door on the Kings and carrying his side home with nine balls to spare.

                                               

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