Picking three wickets including that of Keiron Pollard while bowling in the first innings, then scoring a belligerent 9 balls 18 runs to keep his team in the game and then defending six runs off the Super Over. These were the things achieved by just one person, Romario Shepherd of the Guyana Amazon Warriors who literally won the match between arch-rivals Warriors and Trinbago Knight Riders at Basseterre, St Kitts.
When the match was tied after 40 overs, Amazon Warriors who chased in the full match, batted first in the super over and could only make six runs off five balls, losing two wickets to Sunil Narine, unable to utilise the full six deliveries. It looked like the game was done and suited, but for a certain Romario who made it a point that the two points were going to go the Warriors way no matter what.
Kieron Pollard and Colin Munro came in to bat and get the six runs as quickly as possible to wrap up another win for the Trinbago Knight Riders. However, Shepherd had other plans as a full-length delivery drilled down the ground by Pollard was caught at long-off by Shoaib Malik and on the very first ball, the Knight Riders had lost their trump card.
Still, only seven runs from five balls looked way too easy to be not achieved by the likes of Munro and Tim Seifert, who had come in after Pollard’s dismissal.
Shepherd gave only one run in the next two balls to make it 6 off three balls. On the fourth ball, once again fuller length outside off, Shimron Hetmyer committed a fumble at extra cover to give away a double and make the equation four from two balls. The fifth ball was once again a wide yorker, a little bit too wide, but the umpire chose to call it a legal delivery as Seifert had shuffled too much to the off.
With a four required to win the game, another wide yorker from Shepherd meant that Seifert could only get it to wide long-off and with only a single taken, Guyana won yet another super over against Trinbago and the Knight Riders registered their third super over loss in the CPL history.
The match needn’t have gone the super over in the first place itself as either of the two sides at various stages in the game looked like winning it hands down.
Having gotten Knight Riders restricted to only 138 in the 20 overs, the Warriors fancied themselves to clear the lines and get back on to the winnings ways. However, at 7-2 in the second over, indications were clear that the chase wasn’t going to be easy. Ravi Rampaul was getting the ball to do a lot of things and having picked up two wickets already, he was raring to cause more damage. However, that threat was averted for the time being as Mohammad Hafeez and Hetmyer tried steadying the ship.
But that partnership didn’t last long and Hafeez was dismissed with the team score reaching only 40. Soon Hetmyer and Malik were out as well and it looked a long road for the Warriors to travel with skipper Nicholas Pooran and Brandon King at the crease. However, the due added quick 37 off 21 balls and just as it looked like going Warriors’ way once again, the wily old fox Rampaul struck twice in two balls to bring the game in Trinbago’s favour once again.
With seven down and 33 runs needed yet for a victory with two tailenders at the crease, the Warriors were looking down the drain under Shepherd and Naveen-ul-Haq smashed Rampaul and Udana all over the park to bring the equation down to eight runs from six balls. But once again the match turned as Akeal Hosein bowled out shepherd, giving way just a single off the first three deliveries. Just as it seemed the game was over for the Warriors, Naveen reverse swept Hosein for four over the third man and with two singles of the next two balls, the game was tied.
Earlier in the day, courtesy of Hafezz’s 3-18 and Shepherd’s 3-24, Warriors were able to blunt the Knight Riders batting attack as they stopped them at 138 only.