Cricket news - Brandon King century takes Guyana Amazon Warriors to CPL 2019 final

Guyana Amazon Warriors' incredible run of results has now stretched to 11 wins, the last of which has helped them waltz into the final of CPL for the fifth time in seven seasons. The side in scintillating form pushed Barbados Tridents to the eliminator, where they will now face Trinbago Knight Riders for the second vacant spot in the summit clash on Saturday.

Warriors' 24-year-old Jamaican opener Brandon King found a new level to attain after scoring three half-centuries in the season at the right moment as he graced the qualifier with an excellent century that powered them past the 200-run mark. Once Malik opted to bat first in the home game, King went after the Tridents bowlers from the get-go. An 18-run fourth over was expected to set the tone for what was to come, but the Tridents bowlers kept it tight in the first half of the fixture to keep the side to just 79 for 1 in 10 overs.

Captain Holder and Hayden Walsh, the league's leading wicket-taker, punctured holes in Warriors' batting effort, until Malik stepped onto the scene. He and King forged a 97-run partnership off just 47 deliveries. Malik's contribution to the stand was 32 runs, 24 of which came in a single Shakib Al Hasan over (the 16th) where he smashed the left-arm spinner for four sixes. The 29-run over saw Malik go past 9000 T20 runs as well as set Warriors on the path to taking their team total as close to 200. From 149/3 in 16 overs, King injected another shot of blitzkrieg. He went from 95 off 58 balls to 132 off 72 balls, as the Warriors smashed 16, 19 and 26 in the last three overs to get to the highest-ever CPL total and well and truly tip the scales in their favour.

Tridents didn't go down without a fight in chase, but that three out of the top-five wicket-takers in the league this season belong to the Warriors didn't help their cause. One of them (Chris Green) was kept wicketless through his four overs, but Imran Tahir and Romario Shepherd shared five wickets between them to routinely drill holes into the Tridents' endeavour to pull off something special.

Alex Hales gave them an encouraging start with a flurry of early boundaries. An 18-run sixth over took Tridents to 56 in their powerplay, keeping them almost on course in the chase. But the derailment happened right after as Tahir and Malik struck in successive overs. While Jonathan Carter kept the chase alive from one end, the support kept receding from the other as the Tridents lost their fourth wicket in the 12th over and fifth in the 14th.

He fell for a 26-ball 49 right at the end of a two-over frenzy that fetched 31 runs for the chasers. They reached the 17-over mark with 151 runs on the board, just six short of how much the Warriors at that stage. But even with Holder throwing his bat at nearly everything, they couldn't conjure up the sort of magic that the Warriors did in the last three overs. In the end, Tridents finished with 188 for 8, falling short by 30 runs.

Brief Scores: Guyana Amazon Warriors 218/3 in 20 overs (Brandon King 132*; Hayden Walsh 2-42) beat Barbados Tridents 188/8 in 20 overs (Jonathan Carter 49, Alex Hales 36; Romano Sheperd 3-50, Imran Tahir 2-13) by 30 runs.