GAW vs CD | Gurbaz fifty and Tahir four-fer help Warriors beat Central Districts

‌Central Districts skipper Tom Bruce had won the toss and chose to field, hoping to take advantage of what seemed to be a dry surface in Guyana. Things started well for the Super Smash champions with two big dismissals of Johnson Charles and Moeen Ali in the powerplay. However, the tables began to turn with Gurbaz and Jewel Andrew putting on 84 runs for the third wicket to get the Warriors back in the game. The Afghanistan opener played an important knock of 58 off 47 deliveries and anchored the innings on a sticky surface. Andrew, on the other hand, took the attack to the bowlers, scoring 45 off just 29 deliveries.

Medium pacer Matthew Forde (2/34 in 4 overs) and Angus Shawe (2/24 in 3 overs) were the pick of the bowlers for CD. However, the bowlers still leaked runs towards the end and were set a target of 159 in the end, which was going to be challenging score to chase down at the Providence

It was important for the Stags to start well with the bat to chase down the total. Unfortunately, the batters were no match for the Warriors’ bowling attack and were bowled out for a paltry score of 92 runs. The bowlers who triggered the collapse within the Guyana franchise were pace-bowling all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius and skipper Imran Tahir. While Pretorius got things rolling with the new ball and finished with figures of 3/18 in his full quota of four overs, Tahir broke the middle order and finished his spell with four wickets and conceded only 23 runs as the Warriors finally won the game by a huge margin of 66 runs.

While there were some incredible performances within the GAW team in the game, it was Gurbaz who was adjudged as the player of the match for his crucial half-century in the first innings when his side was in a tough position.