CPL: Guyana Amazon Warriors beat Saint Lucia Kings by six wickets.© X (Twitter)
Saint Lucia Kings pacer Alzarri Joseph lost his cool during a Caribbean Premier League (CPL) match against the Guyana Amazon Warriors on Saturday. The incident happened on the penultimate ball of the ninth over with Guyana closing in on a comprehensive win. Joseph bowled to Shimron Hetmyer who punched the ball straight back at the latter. However, Joseph's frustration boiled over as he threw the ball towards the stumps, even though Hetmyer was rooted into the crease. After doing the same, Joseph gave a long stare to Hetmyer, who responded in style on the next ball.
On the next ball, Hetmyer hit him for a monstrous six over midwicket, with Guyana needing just nine runs to win. The incident involving Joseph and Hetmyer has gone viral.
Hetmyer strikes back #CPL24 #CricketPlayedLouder #BiggestPartyInSport pic.twitter.com/pGzVBTxCD4
— CPL T20 (@CPL) September 14, 2024
Coming back to the match, Saint Lucia Kings were bowled out for a paltry total of 100 after Guyana Amazon Warriors opted to bowl first in Gros Islet.
In reply, Guyana achieved the target in 10 overs, and with six wickets to spare.
Faf du Plessis, St Lucia Kings captain, expressed his disappointment over the result. Speaking after the match, he said: "Extremely disappointing. What we did wrong there, batting first on a pitch that was tacky...just assessing the conditions and playing properly. When you lose wickets like that consistently...they did well to restrict us. There are areas that you can improve on but for me, it is about assessing conditions. In St Kitts, you don't mind guys having a crack but on a new wicket, you can probably take your time and take the shine off. You always try to be positive but that is the learning from tonight. (On playing the Trinbago Knight Riders next) Two tough games in a row. We will reassess and see where we can get better tactically. Tonight was not our best. Most of our wickets was batters giving their wickets away and something for us to work on."
On the contrary, Guyana skipper Imran Tahir was delighted with the result and praised his bowlers for setting up a crucial win.
"I am just happy that it came out nicely and I did the job for my team. I believe everyone did their job from the start. Whoever bowled, in the middle and at the start, did a great job. We had a plan and it worked for us. We have been playing good cricket, nice to see the results going our way. (On what they plan to do in the upcoming week) We deserve this week off. We are going to go and get together on one of the evenings. Pretty much chilling and knowing more about Barbados. Take it slowly for one or two days and then get back to it. We have always been very grateful to the fans, you guys have been amazing and their support is really important to us. A big thanks to everyone (around the world)," Tahir said at the post-match press conference.