The Caribbean Premier League 2024 campaign officially concluded for the Barbados Royals as they lost by eight wickets to Guyana Amazon Warriors in Qualifier 2 at the Guyana National Stadium in Guyana on Friday.
The Royals had entered the fixture on the back of defeating Trinbago Knight Riders by nine wickets in the CPL 2024 Eliminator. This is the first time in the history of CPL that the Warriors were able to trump the Royals in a knockout round.
Warriors won the toss and decided to bowl first. It was an unchanged starting 11 for the Royals, who wanted to stick to the winning combination from the previous match.
A shaky powerplay
Quinton de Kock and Rahkeem Cornwall opened for the Royals but both fell in the powerplay overs. While de Kock was unable to turn on his charisma, falling for 15 runs to Gudakesh Motie, Cornwall scored a quick 19 off 11 balls before being dismissed by Romario Shepherd. At the end of the powerplay, the Royals were at 41/2.
Top order falls short
Alick Athanaze and Kadeem Alleyne continued the run-scoring and built a cautious partnership of 37 runs before falling back-to-back around the 10th over. Skipper Rovman Powell was dismissed shortly after and the score read 88/5 by the end of 12 overs. All three fell to the Warriors’ spinners.
Miller continues his hitting spree
David Miller entered the fray and tried replicating his previous innings. Jason Holder held anchor on the other side and they built a 52-run stand over the next six overs. Miller was dismissed by Dwaine Pretorius in the 18th over and ended with 36 runs of 26 balls which included two boundaries and two maximums.
A final-over collapse
It was a landslide in the final over. Shepherd took the wickets of Holder and Naveen-ul-Haq, while Obed McCoy and Maheesh Theekshana were both run out, trying to add some final runs to the board. This led to the Royals getting all out in the final ball of the innings after setting a 149-run target for the Warriors.
Solid powerplay by the Warriors
Instead of utilizing all the spinners in the powerplay, Powell chose Holder and Naveen-ul-Haq to aid Theekshana. The decision proved costly as the Warriors scored plenty in the first six overs. They ended with 72 runs in the powerplay, losing only Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the mix. However, the Afghan was the main architect, scoring a quick-fire 40 runs off 18 balls.
Royals unable to find a breakthrough
The dew kicked in and proved more difficult for the Royals’ bowlers to navigate. Shai Hope joined Moeen Ali in the middle and put together a decisive 93-run stand. They continued finding the occasional boundaries and kept the score ticking. At the end of the first 10 overs, the Warriors were at 113/1, needing another 36 runs to win from 60 balls.
The impressive Royals' bowling attack which has always been successful in getting breakthroughs faltered on Friday. When Hope was dismissed in the 15th over, he had already scored a match-winning knock of 56 off 33 balls. The Warriors had just two more runs to win and scored it comfortably.
Up next
The CPL 2024 final will now take place between the Warriors and Saint Lucia Kings, a repeat of Qualifier 1. While the Warriors are the defending champions, this would be the Kings’ maiden CPL title if they win.