King blazes Guyana into CPL final

Guyana Amazon Warriors extended their streak to 11 wins on Sunday night to advance to their fifth Caribbean Premier League (CPL) final, defeating Barbados Tridents by 30 runs at the National Stadium, Providence. Astonishingly, the history-making Guyanese team seems to be getting better. The Warriors, on the strength of a phenomenal Brandon King century, matched their highest score for the 2019 CPL, demoralising the Tridents with a mammoth 218/3, the highest ever achieved in the CPL playoffs.

Barbados Tridents, who will get a second chance to reach the final on Thursday against the Trinbago Knight Riders, battled valiantly but could only muster 188/8.

Earlier, Guyana opener King blitzed ten fours and 11 monstrous sixes on his way to a jaw-dropping 132 from 72 balls. King started with some exquisite fours that pierced the field, before changing gears with an aerial assault to race to the top of the CPL scoring chart. Replacing Trinbago Knight Riders' Lendl Simmons (423), King took his tournament tally to 453 runs, with one century and three fifties, at an average of 56.62.

Shoaib Malik (32 from 19), Chandrapaul Hemraj (27 from 23) and Nicholas Pooran (12 from three) also punished the Tridents bowlers.

In reply, Barbados crumbled under the scoreboard pressure to strike out on one of two shots at reaching the CPL final.

Jonathan Carter (49 from 26) and Alex Hales (36 from 19) provided some resistance but their efforts fell significantly short.

Summarised Scores: GUYANA AMAZON WARRIORS 218/3 (20 overs) - Brandon King 132 not out, Shoaib Malik 32, Chandrapaul Hemraj 27 vs BARBADOS TRIDENTS - Jonathan Carter 49, Alex Hales 36, Imran Tahir 2/13, Odean Smith 2/25,