THE TITLE JINX
By Avenash Ramzan
Photos: Courtesy Newsroom
September 24, 2023- a date that will forever be etched in franchise cricket history in Guyana.
That was the night the Guyana Amazon Warriors, after a decade of shattered dreams, gave the thousands of faithful fans a moment to cherish for a lifetime.
When 20-year-old Saim Ayub deposited Ali Khan for a six to bring up his fifty and propel the Amazon Warriors to a most memorable success over arch-rivals Trinbago Knight Riders, Providence was at its loudest and the party flowed well into the night in the stadium’s parking lot and popular watering holes across the nation.
It was fitting that Pakistani Ayub- with arms outstretched and his teammates charging towards him- struck the winning runs, having forged a strong connection with the die-hard fans, not just for his superb batting, but his affable boyhood charm.
“I don’t have words to explain the feeling,” Ayub said after his unbeaten 52 off 41 (2x4s, 5x6s) powered the Amazon Warriors to a nine-wicket win in 14 overs, chasing a target of 95.
“These type of results comes when you’re not a team, but you’re a family. They (Amazon Warriors) took care of me like family.”
For the inspirational skipper Imran Tahir, who became the oldest captain to win a T20 trophy at 44 years, 181 days, it was a dream come true and the culmination of an emotional roller-coaster for the franchise.
“This one is for the beautiful people of this country,” Tahir said as he paid tribute to the fans, who stuck with the franchise through thick and thin from the inception of the tournament in 2013.
“Coming into the competition I had a lot of negative messages from all over the world and that motivated me. I’m the kind of guy who likes to fight.”
An uplifting moment for the country is how President Irfaan Ali described the moment the Amazon Warriors lifted the coveted trophy for the first time.
“This is a moment of great joy and when the country is in great joy and the people are happy, you can’t ask for better.”
“This is also a moment we spoke of when we said we’re going to host the CPL Finals and we wanted to build a product- the Cricket Carnival- and bring together not only cricket, but arts, culture, food and music.”
“We’re going to continue to build on this and make this a major aspect of our tourism product.”
The country will once again be on show in June 2024 when the ICC Men’s World T20 matches are played at Providence.
Guyana is set to host six games- five group matches from June 2-8 and Semi-Final Two on June 27.
