RBCPL24: De Kock ton helps Barbados Royals end Guyana Warriors’ perfect run

After being sent in to have first strike by reigning Republic Bank CPL champions Guyana Amazon Warriors at the Kensington Oval, Barbados on Saturday night, hosts Barbados Royals found themselves on 162 for four by the end of the 18th over.

With a staggering six sixes and 43 runs coming off the last two overs bowled by Keemo Paul and Raymon Reifer, the Royals posted a massive score of 205 for six. This proved to be a hurdle too far to climb for the guests whose passionate supporters threatened to make Kensington their home.

After the Warriors’ innings was halted for roughly 50 minutes by a downpour, captain Rovman Powell marshaled his bowlers beautifully as they held their own on a sluggish outfield and with a damp ball—restricting the opposition to 173 for five to clinch a 32-run victory to go atop the six-team table with eight points from five matches.

Overseas spinners Keshav Maharaj (4-042-3) and Maheesh Theekshana (4-0-21-0) were excellent, with homeboy Jason Holder continuing his love affair with the Kensington venue as he grabbed figures of two for 32, including the key scalp of last year’s CPL MVP Shai Hope.

However, the night well and truly belonged to South African wicket-keeper/batsman Quinton de Kock who blazed his way to 115 off 68 balls, clouting nine sixes and eight fours in the process.

The Proteas left-hander has been in a class of his own this season, and his maiden CPL ton took him past Saint Kitts and Nevis Patriots batsman Kyle Mayers (204 runs) as he moved into pole position in the competition’s run-scoring race this year.

Mayers has taken seven innings to accumulate his haul, with the 31-year-old de Kock needing just five innings to reach his current tally of 308 runs. Such has been de Kock’s dominance at the top of the Royals’ order this season that his majestic century saw him going 208 runs ahead of Powell, who is the franchise’s next-best run-getter this season with 100 runs from five innings.

Coming off an unbeaten fifty against TKR, Powell only managed seven before becoming Dwaine Pretorius’ second victim.

Powell and the Barbados faithful had little to fear, though, as de Kock transformed his innings after playing second fiddle to aggressive opener Kadeem Alleyne (22 off nine balls) in the power play.

Known as “The Professor”, the 23-year-old right-hander returned to the Royals lineup for his second game this season after a run of three consecutive ducks from the big man Rahkeem Cornwall.

Seemingly given the green light to express himself, Alleyne thumped Pretorius back over his head for a six and a four to conclude the game’s first over, before repeating the trick against CPL debutant Moeen Ali in the subsequent over.

Though entertaining, the Professor’s batting lecture was a brief one and he was dismissed in the third over after Shimron Hetmyer took a well-judged running catch off Pretorius.

The Hetmyer-Pretorious combo should have done the trick again in the 18th over, but the former West Indies under-19 captain dropped Holder (28 not out off ten balls), who then pumped Paul for three straight sixes in the subsequent over.

It was a miss that proved costly, with Hope saying the Warriors gave up at least 20-30 more runs than they would have wanted.

With Dominican batting prodigy Alick Athanaze (16 off 19 balls) struggling through the middle overs, de Kock did most of the heavy lifting and dominated the pair’s 82-run partnership for the second wicket.

And whether it was enforced by de Kock or a miscalculation on the part of Hope, the Proteas star effectively knocked new Guyanese star boy Shamar Joseph out of the attack after hitting two fours and a six in a seventh over which leaked 17 runs.

Having bowled the West Indies to an epic Test win against Australia at the Gabba, Brisbane in January to go along with the capture of a third five-wicket haul in Tests just last month, the ever-smiling Shamar may have expected Hope to give him another go.

Still wicketless in his young CPL career, Shamar caught de Kock in the ribs with a 140 km/h-plus bumper to end his one-over spell.

De Kock was attended to by the physio, and it was the only time he appeared troubled on the night—his batting exploits allowing him the luxury to watch the Warriors’ chase from the pavilion.

Deputising for ill GAW captain Imran Tahir, perhaps Hope missed a trick by not giving de Kock some sweet-chin music. Maybe a word of persuasion from countryman Kraigg Brathwaite would have done the job.

Spinners Kevin Sinclair (3-0-18-0), Gudakesh Motie (2-0-20-0) and Ali (3-0-24-0) also weren’t given their full quotas. Hope instead placed his faith in Paul and Reifer.

De Kock and Holder almost killed them with licks, as the bowlers conceded 47 and 50 runs in their respective spells.

In the final over of the Royals innings, after a rampaging de Kock had long bolted from the stables, Reifer celebrated the former’s wicket with the same vigour of a CPL title win.

As they prepare to face their biggest CPL rival in Trinidad on Wednesday, Hope asked his team to step up in a couple of departments.

“We have to find ways to penetrate in the middle [overs]—we have to find ways to get wickets,” Hope said, at the post-match presentation. “Imran Tahir is a big loss for us. He’s obviously a trump card in the middle overs, but we can’t look at that. We have to work with what we have and find ways to get wickets.

“We understand the opposition we’re playing next and then obviously we need to work on the death overs. It’s important we can finish well with the ball and then take care of the batting after.”

Chasing 206, Hope’s innings was a peculiar one in the context of the game. He struck two fours and two sixes in a scratchy 40 from 34 balls.

With Rahmanullah Gurbaz departing the Warriors camp for international duty and the opening pair of Khan and Tim Robinson (19) dismissed in the power play, Hope put the onus on himself to bat through the innings.

It was a tactic that left the Warriors biting off more than they could chew, with the required rate climbing over 12 runs per over with ten overs left.

By that time, a swashbuckling Hetmyer had already been dismissed after hitting 28 off just ten balls.

The first three balls he faced read six, six, six, but Maharaj ended his evil intent after persisting with a wide line in the ninth over—baiting “Hetty” to pull into the gleeful hands of David Miller at mid-wicket.

With his team needing 92 runs off 41 balls, Hope threw the kitchen sink at a Holder bouncer but only succeeded in skying a return catch to the lanky allrounder.

And when Ali (33 off 19 balls) became Maharaj’s third wicket in the subsequent over, the visitors slipped to 126 for five and were looking their first 2024 defeat right in the face.

Paul took out some frustration with an unbeaten 30 off 18, but the result was already a foregone conclusion.

With the Warriors dominating this head-to-head matchup 16-8 before this Kensington joust, de Kock helped the Royals land a serious uppercut to momentarily floor the CPL champs.

On Tuesday night, when they end their stint at home, the Royals will aim to give the cellar-placed Patriots a knockout blow in a miserable season.

For the Warriors, their next assignment is the small matter of a showdown with last season’s runners-up Trinbago Knight Riders at the Queen’s Park Oval.

Summarised scores

Toss: Guyana Amazon Warriors

Barbados Royals: 205 for 6 (20 overs) Quinton de Kock 115, Jason Holder 28*, Kadeem Alleyne 22; Dwaine Pretorius 2/27, Raymon Reifer 3/50

Guyana Amazon Warriors: 173 for 5 (20 overs) Shai Hope 40, Moeen Ali 33, Keemo Paul 30*, Shimron Hetmyer 28; Keshav Maharaj 3/42, Jason Holder 2/32

Man-of-the-Match: Quinton de Kock

Result: Barbados Royals win by 32 runs

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