CPL 2024: Dwaine Pretorius slams Antigua and Barbuda Falcons in thrilling final over

Antigua and Barbuda Falcons lost two out of two matches while playing in front of the home crowd in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2024. Dwaine Pretorius became the reason in the last over that they faced another loss in the T20 tournament while facing the team Guyana Amazon Warriors.

Dwaine Pretorius played a small but meaningful strike for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the crucial last over of the match. He scored 20 runs, with 3 boundaries and 1 six, while facing just 10 balls. Win was collected against Mohammad Amir, the most economical bowler before the last over.

Antigua and Barbuda Falcons started a lacking venture this year with consecutive losses against Saint Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the opening match and now against Defending Champions, Guyana Amazon Warriors. The team will play 10 matches in the league stage against five other participating teams.

The match was scheduled at the home ground of Antigua and Barbuda Falcons, Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. At the same venue, the Falcons were scheduled to play 5 matches, out of which they already lost two.

On the second day of CPL 2024, Match 2 of the league stage was fixed between Falcons and Amazon Warriors, where the game started with a toss. The coin flipped with the face up chosen by Captain Imran Tahir for Guyana.

Imran Tahir decided to bowl first after winning the toss and asked Captain Chris Green to open the inning. While batting first, Antigua and Barbuda Falcons set a total of 168 runs after a loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs.

The inning was opened by Teddy Bishop, along with Fakhar Zaman, whose partnership was broken at just 10 runs on the last ball of send-over with a runout. Teddy Bishop walked out with another failure and a personal score of 9 runs in 10 balls.

On the other hand, Fakhar Zaman once again stood strong on the strike and touched the mark of 40 runs in 33 balls. After Fakhar Zaman, the innings of Kofi James on the first dawn and Imad Wasim on the fourth dawn helped the team to set a target of 169 runs.

Kofi James and Imad Wasim left the ground on personal scores of 37 runs on 24 balls with 5 fours and 1 six; and 40 runs on 21 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes, respectively. Out of the six bowlers for Guyana Amazon Warriors, only two collected wickets.

Among the six bowlers, the Guyanese-origin bowler, Gudakesh Motie, dismissed the most, 3 batsmen in his attack of 4 overs. He gave 25 runs and departed Kofi James, Sam Billings, and Jewel Andrew. After the end of the first inning, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Gudakesh Motie came out to chase.

Gudakesh Motie was not able to continue his performance in batting after successful bowling, and got bowled out in the very first over. He attempted to give a strong start to the team and delivered a bowl over the boundary for six.

Captain Chris Green departed the Gudakesh when he was facing his fourth ball. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was also not able to stand for too long and went back on the team’s total of 38 runs in 4.3 overs. He scored 20 runs in 14 balls with the help of 2 sixes.

The middle over was also not able to give good support to the team while chasing. However, Shai Hope on the first dawn and Romario Shephard on the fifth dawn worked as a backbone for Amazon Warriors. Both players kept the scoreboard moving at a good pace till the death overs.

Shai Hope was caught by Jewel Andrew on the ball of Captain Green, when the team was at 122 runs in 16.4 overs. On the score of 147 runs in Romario Shephard also ended his effort on the third ball of the second last over by Shamar Springer.

After Shephard left the ground, Guyana Amazon Warriors were stuck in a challenging situation where they needed 22 more runs to win in just 9 remaining balls. On the last ball of the nineteenth over, Shamar Joseph hit a six and helped the team to cross the 150 mark.

In the last over, the ball was in the hands of Mohammad Amir to defend the remaining 15 runs out of 168. The strike was held by Dwaine Pretorius, who was at a personal score of 2 runs after facing 4 balls.

The first ball of the last over was also a dot. Anyhow, in the next two balls, Dwaine Pretorius collected two boundaries one after another, which left 8 runs remaining to reach the target in 3 balls. Mohammad Amir bowled the fourth delivery and got one more dot.

In the last two balls, two boundaries were required for the Guyana Amazon Warriors to win their first match of CPL 2024. Dwaine Pretorius hit the ball out of the boundary line for a four, then for a six, and a celebration was started for Amazon Warriors.

In a high-pressure match, the home team of Antigua and Barbuda Falcons once again lost in the last moments of the game. On the other hand, Defending Champions, Guyana Amazon Warriors started their venture of CPL 2024 with a win. Gudakesh Motie was named Man of the Match.