RBCPL24: GAW turn to Hettie and Hope to whoop Royals

Hit and hope is an approach to batting sometimes employed by T20 batsmen and even teams, not always successfully.

In Match 27 of the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) at Providence on Wednesday evening, the Guyana Amazon Warriors relied on Hettie and Hope (Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope).

And it worked. So well, indeed, that GAW posted 219 for 8—the third highest total ever made at Providence—and romped to a 47-run win.

Man-of-the-Match Hope, who made a memorable 100 in the corresponding fixture last year, hit an unbeaten 71, his eighth CPL half-century, and pushed his tally of T20 runs past 3000.

He joined his left-handed partner-in-crime in the last over of the powerplay and the pair of arsonists proceeded to set Providence on fire. They traded blows, combining for eight sixes and nine fours and allowing only Maheesh Theekshana (3/16)  to look like he knew anything about fire-fighting.

When overs #7 to 11 went for 12, 12, 7, 16 and 3 respectively, Royals’ skipper Rovman Powell took matters in his own hands. He ended up pouring fuel on the flames, the rampant pair taking 25 off his solitary over and 11, 13 and 14 respectively off the next three.

“To be at your best,” Hope told the post-match interviewer, “you have to ensure you are mentally strong and on point skill-wise. [It’s] very important to keep that mental side of the things strong and then you keep ticking boxes with your skill.

“We (Hetmyer and I) bat well together. We complement each other well and understand when to go and when not to go. As long as we keep doing that, we could go all the way.”

Throughout their 60-ball partnership, the pair kept the run-rate in double figures. And, when Hetmyer (57, 34 balls, 3×6, 4×4) fell to an excellent low catch by Powell diving low after a  short sprint from long-off, they had taken the score from 59 for 2 to 165 for 3.

Hetmyer’s half-century was his third this season and his 12th overall in the CPL.

Noting that the pitch “also offered a bit of spin”, Warriors captain Imran Tahir commented that his batsmen “set up a nice total for us to defend”.

“We wanted to bat first and […] put a big score on the board,” he said. “Really well played to Hetmyer, Hope and Azam, who gave us a good start.

“It was nice to see how Hetmyer and Hope played. We know they can take the attack to any bowling attack [and] the way they delivered [tonight], it was nice to see.”

The carnage had begun early. Hetmyer was at bat from the end of the first over, when Powell took the first of his four catches to dismiss opener Ramanullah Gurbaz—back from international duty.

In the fourth over, he took 22 off Keshav Maharaj’s first over to make the end-of-powerplay score 60. Maharaj caught the other opener Azam Khan (26, 17b, 5×4) in the final powerplay over to leave the stage clear for more fireworks.

For the next nine overs, the right-handed Hope (71, 37b, 5×6, 5×4) and his left-handed partner razed the Royals bowling arsenal to the ground.

Theekshana accounted for Hope and Keemo Paul in his last over, both caught by Powell, and Obed Mc Coy caught Moeen Ali off his own bowling to belatedly limit the fire damage.

To add to his four catches, Powell ran out power-hitter Romario Shepherd (23, 13, 1×6, 2×4) with an accurate throw and the potentially destructive Dwaine Pretorius was also run out.

Although Powell’s understandable dithering in the field translated into fielding restriction punishments in the last two overs, including a red card for Theekshana, the Warriors were not really able to capitalize.

They did, however, make capital of the Royals’ excessive reliance on Quinton de Kock (23b, 2×6, 3×4), who could only muster 35 in his eight-over stay at the crease.

The Royals’ talisman took a spirit-lifting 21 off Junior Sinclair’s first over, #5, before missing an attempted reverse-sweep off Moeen to be adjudged out LBW on review.

The Hettie/Hope partnership had undermined their already shaky self-belief, which was completely destroyed by the sight of the umpire’s upraised finger after the de Kock review.

The ultra-aggressive Kadeem Alleyne and Alick Athanaze had gone early. Emerging player Rivaldo Clarke, who shared a 46-run partnership with de Kock, misread an Imran Tahir googly and was out LBW without any addition to the 63 at which de Kock was dismissed.

They collapsed to 95 for 8—the spinners Gudakesh Motie (3/42), Moeen (2/16) and Tahir (2/22) doing the dirty on them.

Saying he was proud of the boys, Tahir added that they “bowled really well as a bowling group”.

At the start of the day, Miller, in his 500th T20 game, had a highest CPL 2024 score of 21. He added an unbeaten 71 (34, 5×6, 7×4) towards the end of the Royals’ innings—taking the long handle to Pretorius, Shepherd and Motie, whose last overs went for 16, 15 and 21 respectively.

The late flurry made the final tally a respectable 172 for 8. That was important to the Royals’ overall run-rate but meant little as regards the outcome of Wednesday evening’s game.

The Royals will hope that the leftie’s innings signals a return to form. They will need him to fire when they take on the Trinbago Knight Riders in their last group stage match at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba on Friday evening.

Powell praised Miller, saying that “to play 500 games, you must be doing something right… Nice that he is getting back into form.”

He conceded that the Warriors “came out firing and totally outplayed us”.

“Winning builds confidence,” he added, “but we know not to get too down with a few losses. The real business starts next week.”

So far this season, his side has not done well when de Kock has not fired. They have largely depended on the hard-hitting wicketkeeper/batsman to win games for them and continued to hope that someone else, like Miller—now just two short of 50 T20 half-centuries—would step up and deliver.

But CPL titles have been won by ensuring execution and excellence, not by relying on hit and hope.

And certainly not with an extra S tacked on at the beginning.

Summarised scores

Toss: Barbados Royals

Guyana Amazon Warriors: 219 for 8 (20 overs) Shai Hope 71, Shimron Hetmyer 57, Azam Khan 26, Romario Shepherd 23; Maheesh Theekshana 3/15

Barbados Royals: 172 for 9 (20 overs) David Miller 71*, Quinton de Kock 35 ; Gudakesh Motie 3/42, Moeen Ali 2/16, Imran Tahir 2/22

Man-of-the-Match: Shai Hope

Result: Guyana Amazon Warriors win by 47 runs

More from Wired868

RBCPL24: How the CPL took wing to become dominant regional sport event

Allen Stanford, remember that name? No? Not a surprise really. When West Indians are focused on the biggest party in Read more

RBCPL24: Are WI being served? Wired868 looks back at CPL24

“Yuh tink is so de ting does work?” Calypso History Month has just begun and the 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Read more

Vaneisa: Under the crescent moon—the good, the bad and the ugly of the CPL

The day after the end of the T20 World Cup, my daughter and a friend of ours were at my Read more

RBCPL24: Roger that, Coachman! Chase and Jones flip final script for SLK after warning

Five overs to go, six wickets intact and 66 runs still needed for victory. Saint Lucia Kings (SLK) are chasing Read more

RBCPL24:  Aaron Jones steps up as SLK deny defending champions GAW the double

The deed is done. The defending champions have been defeated. By six wickets. And on their third attempt—having repeatedly discussed Read more

RBCPL24: Feeling the fielding—how David Wiese leads Kings’ bowlers’ support staff

A cricket match, a cricket sage once wrote, is played in the minds of the opposing captains. Were he writing Read more

Earl Best

Earl Best taught cricket, French, football and Spanish at QRC for many years and has written consistently for the Tapia and the Trinidad and Tobago Review since the 1970’s.
He is also a former sports editor at the Trinidad Guardian and the Trinidad Express and is now a senior lecturer in Journalism at COSTAATT.