CPL REVIEW: Shimron Hetmyer leads Guyana to victory as Tallawahs get off to strong start

The Cricketer takes a look at some of the standout themes from the second day of action in the Caribbean Premier League at the Brian Lara Academy in Trinidad...

Guyana Amazon Warriors returned to winning ways, while Jamaica Tallawahs showed that they will be a force to be reckoned with this year. For St Kitts & Nevis Patriots and St Lucia Zouks, there was a familiar feeling of defeat.

The Cricketer takes a look at some of the standout themes from the second day of action at the Brian Lara Academy in Trinidad.

Guyana’s template for success back in operation

Eight overs of spin from Chris Green and Imran Tahir, combined with twelve overs of high-quality T20 seam bowling.

Although they are yet to win the Caribbean Premier League, no other team has shown itself to possess such clarity about its plans.

For all the talk around Rashid Khan and several other younger leg-spinners, few are as consistently shrewd as Tahir. Poor deliveries are a rarity as the 41-year-old homes in on the stumps. Even in an evolving genre and a game as fast-moving as T20, he remains a must-have accessory.

You sign your overseas players to have a major impact on games. And from the moment Tahir – entrusted with the fourth over of proceedings – had Chris Lynn caught by Green with the first ball he bowled, he was doing his job.

Green was similarly frugal. He has endured a difficult period, having been banned from bowling after the legality of his action was questioned. But backed by Guyana – the Australian was named as captain in July, he was at his wily best, taking the new ball with his off-breaks and leading his side intelligently.

^{Glenn Phillips is part of a brutal Jamaia Tallawahs batting line-up}

Naveen-ul-Haq, with a gather and release not dissimilar to Jasprit Bumrah, looks another clever piece of business, while Keemo Paul seems in fine fettle. This is a big tournament for the seam bowling allrounder; there is a sense that a few players are battling it out for a couple of places in West Indies’ limited-over outfits. Figures of 4 for 19 suggest a man ready for that particular fight.

And then, there is Shimron Hetmyer. It was difficult in Guyana’s opening game not to notice that he appeared to have piled on some weight during lockdown. But here, as wickets tumbled around him, he played the kind of innings that first led to the hype around him.

He opted not to tour England earlier this summer, as was his absolute right in a pandemic environment. And while we are talking about two very different formats, one couldn’t help but wonder what his star quality might do for Jason Holder’s Test middle order.

As Brandon King, Nicholas Pooran, Ross Taylor, Sherfane Rutherford, Chandrapaul Hemraj and Paul all fell cheaply, Hetmyer remained a man in control. A match-winning 71 and a sign perhaps that he is ready now to turn exciting starts into meaningful contributions. This was only his eighth score above fifty in 57 T20s.

No Chris Gayle… but still an outrageous army of six-hitters

When Chadwick Walton fell, Glenn Phillips was at the other end. When Nicholas Kirton was dismissed shortly afterwards, Rovman Powell strode in. When Powell was caught, in came Asif Ali. When Phillips went for 44, out came Andre Russell. When Russell was seen off, Carlos Brathwaite replaced him.

Has there ever been a T20 batting line-up put together with such a never-ending stream of bona fide whackers? On this occasion, Jamaica Tallawahs only hit eight sixes. Russell was unusually subdued, his 16 coming at under a run a ball and with only two boundaries; his explosion will wait for another day.

^{Shimron Hetmyer was in the runs for Guyana Amazon Warriors}

In his tournament preview for The Cricketer, Jarrod Kimber calculated that in the last three years, Russell hits a T20 six every 5.4 balls. The average in T20 cricket is once per 19 deliveries. For Walton and Powell, that falls to one in 12, Brathwaite one in 11, Asif one in nine.

And with a bowling attack featuring the seamers of Russell, Brathwaite and Oshane Thomas, not to mention the leg-spin of Sandeep Lamichhane and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, they are set up quite nicely for the month ahead.

A difficult start for Zouks and Patriots alike…

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots’ batting always looked a little thin on the ground – or at the very least, reliant on Lynn and Evin Lewis. Ben Dunk had a fine time of things in the Pakistan Super League and might be better utilised higher up the order than No.5, especially with Denesh Ramdin and Nick Kelly – a New Zealander new to the franchise circuit – above him. Guyana sensed a weakness and St Kitts & Nevis were soon 83 for 5.

For St Lucia, the issue – looking through a batting line-up stacked full of options – felt like one of placement. The top three – Rahkeem Cornwall, Andre Fletcher and Mark Deyal – somewhat picks itself. Deyal was gloriously cavalier in his six-ball 17, while both Fletcher and Cornwall have previous.

Below them, however, it will take time to work out the best formula amid a plethora of allrounders, which includes Roston Chase, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi and captain Darren Sammy.

While Chase reached a half century, his 52 came off 42 balls and meant perhaps that his side wasn’t able to take full advantage of a rapid start. When Deyal was out at the end of the fourth over, there were already 40 runs on the board. The next 16 provided just 118.

A work in progress, then, but a squad at least with plenty of talent to choose from.

The Cricketer's coverage of the CPL comes in collaboration with the Caribbean Cricket Podcast

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