Guyana Amazon Warriors close in on playoffs with victory over St Lucia Kings

Faf du Plessis scored a century for the Kings but his side couldn't defend 195 in Providence

Providence: St Lucia Kings 194-5, Guyana Amazon Warriors 195-4 – Guyana Amazon Warriors won by six wickets

Scorecard

Guyana Amazon Warriors have moved to within one point of the CPL playoff places after defeating St Lucia Kings by six wickets.

Faf du Plessis scored a century for the Kings, blasting 103 runs off 59 balls to help his side to an imposing total of 194 for 5.

Niroshan Dickwella (36 off 32) and Roston Chase (17 not out off seven) provided support with the bat while Shakib Al Hasan was the pick of the Warriors bowlers, taking 2 for 33. Romario Shepherd, Imran Tahir and Odean Smith shared the remaining wickets.

^{Faf du Plessis scored a century for St Lucia Kings [CPL/Getty Images]}

However, the Kings failed to defend their total, with an unbeaten half-century from Shai Hope steering the Warriors to victory with four balls to spare.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (52 off 26) and Chandrapaul Hemraj (29 off 20) enjoyed a bright opening partnership, putting on 81 runs off 43 balls, before a flurry of wickets from Chase and Mark Deyal threatened to derail the Warriors.

Hope, however, held firm and shared a brisk 63-run stand with Shimron Hetmyer before an explosive fifth-wicket partnership with Shepherd (47 off 24) wrapped up a second victory in as many matches for the Warriors.

Hope contributed 59 runs from just 30 deliveries to the win, including two fours and five sixes, while Alzarri Joseph bowled a tidy spell of 1 for 20 in vain for the Kings.

Heading into the final three group matches, just one point separates second and sixth place.