The Barbados Royals secured a place in the final of the 2022 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a comprehensive 87 run win over Guyana Amazon Warriors at Providence Stadium, Guyana.Barbados will now meet the winner of the second qualifier between Jamaica Tallawahs and Guyana Amazon Warriors.
Guyana Amazon Warriors won the toss and chose to field, but Barbados Royals went on to score the joint-highest total of this season by reaching an imposing 195 for 5.Opener Rahkeem Cornwall starred in the innings, launching 11 sixes in his innings of 91, while Azam Khan supported with his own half-century.
Barbados Royals had initially got off to a cautious start, but Cornwall went on to play one of the most destructive innings seen this season, 91 runs from just 54 balls. That put the Royals into the driver's seat.
After losing his wicket just nine runs short of a century to the bowling of Shakib Al Hasan, the responsibility of the innings fell on Khan, whose vital half-century helped his side to 195 for 5 by the end of the innings.
The Warriors' hopes of a successful chase were crushed in the powerplay itself. They lost four wickets, with Kyle Mayers and Ramon Simmonds proving effective with the ball. Despite the attempts of Shimron Hetmyer, it was not to be enough as the Warriors fell to 108 all out.
Guyana's loss of early wickets in their chase saw the in-form batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz departing in the first over. Then came a flurry of wickets that left the Warriors on 36 for 4 by the end of the powerplay. Simmonds excelled with his bowling, taking three key wickets, including that of captain Hetmyer, who was the Warriors highest scorer in the innings. In the end, the Warriors finished on 108 all out and will play in tomorrow night's qualifier.
Brief scores: Barbados Royals 195/5 in 20 overs (Rahkeem Cornwall 91, Azam Khan 52, Kyle Mayers 26, Romario Shepherd 2/29) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 108 in 17.4 overs (Shimron Hetmeyer 37, Ramon Simmonds 3/17, Rahkeem Cornwall 2/10, Mujeeb ur Rahman 2/21) by 87 runs.