Twitter Reactions: Kesrick Williams snatches easy victory from Guyana's grasp

T20 cricket is not only about power hitting. If two formidable bowling units face each other then also the match is equally entertaining as a match with a flurry of boundaries. On Thursday (according to Windian time), fans got to witness two amazing performances from the two bowling line-ups of Jamaica Tallawahs and Guyana Amazon Warriors. But banking on Kesrick Williams, the former turned out to be the better among two as Jamaica are nearing the top of the points table of this year’s CPL.

Winning the toss, Guptill decided to bowl first here at their home ground- Providence Stadium, Guyana. As they often do, Jamaican openers Lendl Simmons and Glenn Phillips provided a foundation to Tallawahs’ innings. After Simmons’ dismissal, last match’s hero Andre McCarthy, skipper Kumar Sangakkara and Rovman Powell couldn’t contribute much to the cause of the team.

However, Phillips was still present at the other end. Phillips reached his half-century but the acceleration was yet to come as Tallawahs were scoring at a poor run rate. It was provided by Jonathan Foo, who chipped in with crucial 20 runs from just 12 deliveries. But Phillips and Foo were dismissed in a span of just a couple of runs and the tail end of Jamaican innings failed to hit at least one boundary. All they could manage was a mere 128 runs.

Chasing a target of 129, the Warriors began in a similar fashion as the openers Chadwick Walton and Martin Guptill tried to consolidate the innings rather than going at the bowlers. When Walton and his skipper was dismissed, the Warriors were scoring at a run rate of 6 r.p.o and wanted someone to flash the shots now, a strong foundation was already provided.

Pakistani batter Babar Azam and Jason Mohammed were on the crease to finish off the game for the home side. While Jason still was able to salvage a four and a six, it seemed as if Azam is stuck in quicksand as he found it extremely difficult to get going. Azam was finally dismissed for 23, but he had already eaten up 27 balls as the required run rate followed only one direction, which was up.

8 runs were needed from the last over but only 4 came from the first three balls and the fourth ball saw Babar lose his wicket. The penultimate ball of the match was vital as Guyana’s last hope Jason Mohammed was the striker. But all he could manage was the run and new batsman Roshon Primus was dismissed for a golden duck in the last ball. It completed a superb last over for Williams, giving just 5 runs and taking a couple of wickets.

The fans were in shock and utter disgust- how can their team not chase 129? Thanks to Williams who took the initiative of picking wickets and Imad Wasim and Krishmar Santokie, who stopped the run flow. The win ensures that Jamaica is closely following table-toppers Trinbago Knight Riders, while Guyana are still lagging at the 5th position. Though there was a shortage of boundaries, there was no shortage of tweets.

Here are some top tweets from the match