Shepherd takes down TKR in super over

BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CMC):

LION-HEARTED Romario Shepherd dominated the game's biggest moments to earn Man-of-the-Match honours as Guyana Amazon Warriors edged reigning champions Trinbago Knight Riders in a dramatic super over yesterday.

For nearly 41/2 hours at Warner Park, the strapping 26-year-old flaunted his courage with bat and ball, propelling Amazon Warriors to an important second win but, more significantly, dealing TKR their third defeat in five games of the new Caribbean Premier League season.

Though he snatched three for 24 to help limit TKR to a modest 138 for nine and then blasted a cameo nine-ball 18 to help his side level the scores at the end of the regulation overs, his contribution was even more priceless in the super over.

With Amazon Warriors defending only six runs, Shepherd removed the dangerous Kieron Pollard off the first ball, getting the TKR captain to hole out to long off.

Nerves of steel

Displaying nerves of steel, he kept Colin Munro scoreless of the next ball and limited him to a single off the third, before Tim Seifert sprinted a couple to cover off the fourth, to leave TKR with four runs to win from the last two balls. But Shepherd squirted the fifth delivery beyond Seifert's desperate heave and then held the New Zealander to a single off the last ball, to pull off perhaps the most stunning victory of the campaign.

"I was confident. First ball I got a wicket and that was the most important wicket for me," a breathless Shepherd said afterwards. "It put them on the back foot with two new guys there needing to score seven runs still, so I backed myself to hit my yorkers."

He added: "I'm pleased. I'm developing with the bat also so you can see I'm going out there and finishing the game for us. I'm thankful. God is giving me the strength to go out there and do these things."

Pollard shouldered the blame for having not won the contest for TKR in the super over.

"I take full responsibility for that. Seven runs in a super over, we should've gotten over the line especially after getting that lifeline after we batted and posted that total so (I have to) take that one on the chest," Pollard lamented. "But these things happen. Cricket is a game of small margins and today was another one."