CPL 2024: Amazon Warriors misses highest total in history by 1 run

Guyana Amazon Warriors scored the second-highest total in the history of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). This historical innings played out during the seventh match of CPL 2024 against the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots on Wednesday, 04 September.

The Match-7 of CPL 2024 was hosted at the Warner Park Cricket Stadium in St Kitts and Nevis. After winning the toss, Amazon Warriors’ Captain Imran Tahir decided to bat. After a remarkable batting spell, the team of Guyana placed a target of 266 runs on the scoreboard.

This was the second time a team had scored over 250 runs in this year’s edition of the T20 tournament. It is also the second highest total scored by any team in the 11 year history of the Caribbean Premier League.

However, the team failed to reach the historical record of the highest total by a difference of just 1 run. As per records from the past year, the most runs scored in an inning in the Caribbean Premier League is 267 after the loss of 2 wickets.

The record belongs to the team of Trinbago Knight Riders and was made in the 2019 edition of CPL. Meanwhile, during the match played on September 4, Amazon warriors lost their 7 wickets to set this score in 20 overs.

Three players, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shimron Hetmyer, Keemo Paul played crucial roles in helping Guyana Amazon Warriors reach this total. Hetmyer scored 91 runs in just 39 balls with a strike rate of 233.33. He entered the ground just after the powerplay after the loss of two wickets and got dismissed in the second last over of the inning.

His century and the striking inning of 11 sixes were restricted by the Odean Smith for the Patriots. Odean Smith was the most expensive baller for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, who gave 60 runs in his 3 overs with just 1 wicket.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz came to open the inning for Guyana Amazon Warriors and gave a stable start to the team. After Kevin Sinclair and Shai Hope walked back to the pavillion, he stood strong and made a strong partnership of 116 runs with Hetmyer for the third wicket.

The Afghan batsman scored 69 runs in 37 balls with 4 boundaries and 6 sixes. He left the ground on the team’s total of 169 runs in 13.4 overs. Keemo Paul also played a fiery inning and added 38 runs to the team’s total in just 14 balls before getting run out.

At the end for the first 20 overs of the match in CPL 2024, Guyana Amazon Warriors was standing with an unachievable target on the board of 267 runs. Guyana took the second spot in the list by pushing a precious time score of 255 runs for 5 wickets in CPL 2021.

They also surpassed another score of 250 in this year, which was made by Trinbago Knight Riders. This total by the Knight Riders claimed the third spot on the list before this match. The notable point is that the two highest total of CPL 2024 is made against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.

In the second inning, the batsmen of the Patriots team made their way to the ground but failed to achieve the target. Captain Andre Fletcher took the inning forward strongly after the fall of performers of the last match.

As Evin Lewis and Kyle Mayers failed to stand for long on the strike, Captain Fletcher carried the team along and scored 81 runs in 33 balls. He hit 9 sixes and 4 boundaries with a strike rate of 245.45. He was the sixth player to get dismissed while chasing.

Fletcher lost his wicket on the team’s total of 171 runs in 12.3 overs. The team was scoring at a good rate, but no one was able to spend time on the ground for long except Fletcher, which became the reason for their loss.

The team of St Kitts and Nevis Patriots got all out at the end of 18 overs. They scored 226 runs and fell short of 40 runs from equating the score of Guyana Amazon Warriors. Shimron Hetmyer was named as the Player of the match for his performance.

This was the third loss for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in a row. Notably, all the matches the Patriots lost were over 400+ scoring games, where both sides scored a total of 200+ runs. The 226 runs by the Patriots against Guyana was also the seventh-highest score in the history of CPL.

With the conclusion of the seventh match in CPL 2024, all the T20 games were won by the visiting teams, and the home team faced defeat. St Kitts and Nevis won just the opening match, which was in Antigua and Barbuda, after which their last three matches were at home ground.

Antigua and Barbuda Falcons, on the other hand, are the only teams not able to win a single match. They played four matches and lost each. They played all the matches on their home ground, Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. Falcons are also the only team to lose their first match.