Guyana Amazon Warriors complete perfect 10 to break Caribbean Premier League record

Last year’s runners-up in the Caribbean Premier League became the first side in the tournament’s history to complete a faultless run through the group stages

Guyana Amazon Warriors secured a record-breaking win on Friday evening, with Nicholas Pooran steering Shoaib Malik’s side to a seven-wicket victory over Trinbago Knight Riders.

In so doing, last year’s runners-up in the Caribbean Premier League became the first side in the tournament’s history to complete a perfect run through the group stages.

It was their 10th successive victory – a result that leaves the outfit, coached by Johan Botha, with twice the number of points of their nearest rivals.

In their ninth game against Chris Gayle’s Jamaica Tallawahs, Guyana recovered from a nightmare start – they found themselves eight for four – before bowling Tallawahs out for 79 to complete a 77-run victory that highlighted both their strength in depth with the bat, as well as their clarity of planning with the ball.

In that game, Malik’s side utilised just a single over of seam-bowling – bowled by Keemo Paul, with the rest of the overs shared between the spin of Chris Green, Imran Tahir, Qais Ahmad, Chandrapaul Hemraj and Malik himself.

The pattern was not dissimilar in their record-breaking victory, with only seven overs of seam bowling called upon.

Although Hemraj and Shimron Hetmyer fell cheaply in response to Trinbago’s 143, Pooran led Guyana to their target with an unbeaten 54.

^{Nicholas Pooran led Guyana to victory over Trinbago}

In amongst their campaign – they have won twice as many games as anyone else, runs and wickets have been equally shared around.

Uncapped West Indian batsman Brandon King has made the most runs for his side, while Malik has made his contributions at an average of 93.66.

With the ball, none of the six spinners employed by Guyana this season have been taken at an economy of greater than 6.95. In 109.2 overs of spin bowled by Malik’s side, they have conceded just 665 runs – 6.08 runs per over.

Both Green and Tahir have taken 13 wickets each, the joint-second highest in the tournament. Only Hayden Walsh, the USA international, has taken more.