Guyana Amazon Warriors defeated Saint Lucia Kings by six wickets in the 2022 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) thanks to a boisterous home crowd. For St. Lucia, it was their second straight defeat.
The Guyana Amazon Warriors won the toss and chose to field first. The Kings sprinted to a 77-0 lead in the powerplay. Imran Tahir and Tabraiz Shamsi, two spinners, caused the tide to turn. Johnson Charles batted through the innings and scored a fantastic 87 off just 59 balls as the Kings concluded on 161 for seven.
Saint Lucia Kings got off to an incredible start as Charles and Faf du Plessis combined for a score of 77-0 after six overs, the greatest powerplay total so far this season. However, Shamsi and Tahir demonstrated their strength by limiting runs and claiming wickets that prevented the Kings from scoring.
Tim David staged a last-minute counterattack, but Keemo Paul stood out with the ball in the last over, taking two wickets and allowing just four runs to be scored, bringing the Kings' total after 20 overs to 161/7.
Despite losing early wickets, Shimron Hetmyer and Heinrich Klaasen led the Guyana Amazon Warriors' chase by putting on a 66-run partnership for the fourth wicket. With ten balls remaining, Klaasen led the Amazon Warriors to their first victory of the year with a magnificent 61 from 46 balls.
When Colin Ingram withdrew, making it 46 for three in the seventh over, after Chandrapaul Hemraj and Shai Hope had both left at the same score of 37, there was significant cause for concern. But Klaasen and Hetmeyer saw to it that nothing went wrong.
Brief scores: St Lucia 161/7 in 20 overs (Johnson Charles 87, Faf du Plessis 31, Tabraiz Shamsi 2/14, Keemo Paul 2/27) lost to Guyana Amazon Warriors 162/4 in 18.2 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 61 not out, Shimron Hetmeyer 32, Chandrapaul Hemraj 23, Keemo Paul 21 not out, Jeavor Royakl 2/17) by six wickets.