Caribbean Premier League into its 3rd game this season has already provided the entertainment it promised when established back in 2013.
It was the first game of the campaign for both the teams as the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots took on the Guyana Amazon Warriors at the Basseterre on Thursday.
Having won the toss and chosen to bowl first, the Warriors were off to a splendid start when Sohail Tanvir stuck in the very first over of the game to send Lendl Simmons back to the pavilion for a not in what was a wicket-maiden over to start the game.
But just as the Patriots looked like gaining some momentum in the innings, Rayad Emrit broke through the spine to pick up two in two in his first two balls of the game to set the batting side back at 34/3.
Faf du Plessis on the other side was strong in the midst of this collapse and managed to take the score to over 50 but was sent packing in the 10th over by the ever impressive Adam Zampa. Du Plessis tried to take on the leggie but failed to do so and holed out to covers to reduce his team to 54/4.
The Patriots were in desperate need of a partnership and Devon Thomas along with Brad Hodge added an impressive 60 runs in the space of a few overs lifting the score to 114/5 in the 15th over.
But with just 5 overs left, Hodge tried to take on Zampa and holed out near long on for 38 of just 32 balls while Thomas’ splendid innings of 38 of just 17 balls with 1 four and four sixes also came to an end just an over later as Sohail Tanvir hit the stumps in the 17th over leaving the Patriots at 130/6 with just over two overs remaining.
A quick cameo from Thisara Perera of20 off just 12 balls along with a wayward last over from Emrit saw the Patriots set the Warriors a target of 165, something that was not going to be easy.
The Warriors started their chase in superb fashion as they marched on to 62/0 in the first 5.5 overs.
Dwayne Smith was going all guns blazing but his partner Martin Guptill who scored 22 off just 16 balls succumbed to the last ball of the powerplay giving the Patriots a glimmer of hope of restricting the chase.
However, the Warriors were in no mood to give up as they continued their assault, especially Smith as they reached 90 in the next 4 overs leaving just 70 required off the last 10 overs of the chase.
But a twist was still waiting to happen as Krishmar Santokie picked up Dwayne Smith for 62 with a clever change of pace and Chris Lynn who was playing second fiddle to Smith also followed him as he looked to steal a single that was not really there.
With 72 require of the last 9 overs, the Patriots started to tighten things up and bowled the next 3 overs for just 9 runs and also picking up the wicket of C Barnwell leaving the team to chase 63 runs in the last 6 overs with 6 wickets in hand.
But to once again shift the momentum in the game, Thisara Perera, who was given the 15th over went for 16 runs leaving just 47 required off the last 5.
Brathwaite then bowled another over of 12 runs and just as it looked like the Warriors would run away with it, T Shamsi picked up A Bramble for 14 and gave away just the 5 runs in the over leaving 30 from the last three making it a nail biter.
10 runs came of Santokie’s 18th over while 13 came from Perera in the next as J Mohammed and S Tanvir bought the required rate down to 7 with just one over remaining.
Though Santokie got Tanvir run out for 8, Mohammed stayed strong till the end scored a boundary in the with 3 balls to spare and picked up a double in the penultimate ball to give his side the victory.
Faf du Plessis, will be kicking himself having dropped the catch on the boundary on the last ball but Warriors will not complain as they will be happy to steal a victory when it was looking improbable.
Dwayne Smith was the Man of the Match for his superb innings but J Mohammed should also be given equal credit for this victory.