Imran Tahir's Five-for Secures Top Spot for Warriors
Guyana Amazon Warriors didn’t just return to winning ways. They stamped themselves back on the tournament, clinging through a nervy chase to beat Saint Lucia Kings in a scrappy, low-scoring contest in Guyana and lock up top spot on the points table.
On a night when batters from both sides searched for rhythm, a 45-year-old legspinner owned the game.
Tahir tears through Kings
Saint Lucia Kings chose to bat and briefly looked like they had read the surface right. Kamil Pooran came out swinging, even as Tim Seifert departed early. Pooran’s intent was clear from the start: five fours, two sixes, and a Powerplay that crackled against the grain of the pitch.
With John Campbell offering support, the Kings moved to 51 for 1 after six overs. Solid base. Momentum building. Guyana’s bowlers searching.
Then the match turned on its head.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz prised it open straight after the Powerplay, removing Campbell and snapping a 40-run stand. That single strike loosened the lid. Imran Tahir ripped it clean off.
Tahir trapped Pooran lbw, then nailed Roston Chase in similar fashion inside two overs. The Kings’ spine snapped. Mehidy returned in the 11th over and sliced through the middle, dismissing Kemol Savory and Charith Asalanka in the space of a few balls. From 51 for 1, the scoreline lurched into freefall.
Panic set in. Footwork vanished. Tahir smelled it.
He came back and bowled McKenny Clarke, then did the same to Matthew Forde in the next over, his variations suddenly far too good for a lineup that had lost its nerve. When he pinned Joshua Bishop lbw in the 14th, Tahir held a five-wicket haul and the Kings lay in ruins.
Seven wickets had fallen for just 19 runs. From promise to collapse in a blink.
Only Obus Pienaar kept the innings from complete embarrassment. He fought his way to 35, farming the strike and dragging the total into three figures. His 38-run last-wicket stand with Maheesh Theekshana gave the Kings something to bowl at and at least a sliver of hope.
Pienaar finally holed out in the 19th over, trying to squeeze a few more out of a fading innings. Fittingly, Tahir settled under the catch. Saint Lucia Kings were bowled out for 119, a total that looked light but not irrelevant on a sticky surface.
Stuttering chase, late onslaught
A target of 120 should have been routine. It wasn’t.
Guyana’s reply started in slow motion. The ball held in the pitch, the Kings’ attack hit their lengths, and the Warriors’ top order refused to take risks. At the end of the Powerplay, the scoreboard read 23 for 1. Just two boundaries. The crowd restless. The Kings suddenly alive.
Mavendra Dindyal’s dismissal only deepened the tension. Glenn Phillips and Shai Hope chose caution over bravado, nudging and prodding rather than breaking the game open. They stitched together a 53-run stand off 58 balls, a partnership that steadied the innings but never quite killed the contest.
The pressure built again. The required rate didn’t explode, but it nagged. Then came the wobble.
Three wickets tumbled in three overs. The Kings’ fielders found their voices, the bowlers their bite. A chase that should have coasted turned jagged, and for the first time since Tahir’s spell, Saint Lucia sensed something more than consolation.
That flicker of belief lasted only as long as Quentin Samspon allowed it.
Walking in with the game drifting, Samspon tore up the script. He cleared his front leg, swung hard, and transformed a tricky chase into a demolition job. Five sixes flew off his bat in an outrageous 11-ball 37*, a cameo that felt like it belonged to a different pitch and a different night.
Every clean strike drained the Kings’ resistance. Fielders watched balls sail into the stands; bowlers stared at the turf. The tension that had gripped the chase evaporated in a flurry of arcs over the boundary.
When the winning runs came, there was no doubt left. Guyana Amazon Warriors had survived their own stutter, ridden Tahir’s genius, and slammed the door through Samspon’s brutality.
Top of the table, battle-tested, and with a veteran legspinner still dictating terms — the Warriors leave this game with more than just two points.
