Lynn hammered 77 to help Guyana Amazon Warriors cruise to a six-wicket win after Colin Munro's unbeaten century. Photo credit: CPL
In the Indian Premier League this year, Colin Munro spent most of his time on the sidelines. In a chat with Cricbuzz during that time, he stressed on the fact that in every net session, he was aiming to become a better player of spin.
On Sunday (July 3), Munro reaped rewards of the time spent in Kolkata and slammed an unbeaten 65-ball 100 to lift Trinbago Knight Riders to 162 for 5 on a slow, challenging surface. However, on the night it wasn't enough as Chris Lynn (77 off 43) hammered eight towering sixes to guide Guyana Amazon Warriors to a six-wicket win in the Caribbean Premier League game at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad.
That Munro's century came after scores like six and 11 in the last two games will give the left-hander plenty of confidence. He walked in on the second ball of the match - after Brendon McCullum (0) was caught behind on the first off Sohail Tanvir. He wasn't handed a platform on the platter to launch an onslaught and was made to work hard for his runs. That the Amazon Warriors gave him a heavy dose of spin was on expected lines.
What stood out was Munro's temperament. Even after he played and missed his reverse slaps, and was fooled by Tanvir on more than a few occasions, he was ready to grind it out. Aware that Tanvir was tough to go after on this surface, he targeted Paul Wintz to pick 16 runs in the second over to get going.
What followed was period of lull as Veerasammy Permaul and Tanvir took control. Hashim Amla, after his heroics in the last game, managed just six before he had his woodwork disturbed by Permaul in the fifth over.
Darren Bravo then collaborated with Munro to add 74 runs for the third wicket in which his contribution was just 12. Munro made a conscious effort to play his strokes in front of square and in the process neutralised the threat of Permaul, Adam Zampa and Jason Mohammed.
Munro got to his century off 65 balls. What followed next was no Virat Kohli-like celebration. Off went the helmet, up went the bat, a smile emerged and he got back to business soon after. He became the first overseas player to score a century in CPL and only the third after Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels.
During the innings break, Knight Riders had all the momentum. That, however, didn't take too long to change as Dwayne Smith and Martin Guptill gave the team a flying start. Sunil Narine did pull things back when he dismissed Smith in the fourth over. Guptill too fell soon after, in the 10th over, to give the hosts an opening.
From there on, it was the Lynn show. He raced to his half-century in just 30 balls to take the game away from the Knight Riders in a jiffy. Lynn took a special liking for Narine, his Kolkata Knight Riders teammate. With the off-spinner failing to stifle Guyana in the middle-overs, it became a cruise for the visitors in what could well have been a tricky chase.
Brief scores: Trinbago Knight Riders 162-5 in 20 overs (Colin Munro 100*; Sohail Tanvir 2-21) lost to Guyana Amazon Warriors 166-3 in 19.2 overs (Chris Lynn 77) by six wickets.
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