Patriots vs Amazon, 2nd Match at Basseterre, CPL, Aug 15 2025 - Ball by Ball Commentary

That's it for today's match. Thanks for joining us! This is Rashad Mahbub, signing off on behalf of Harshith Gowda, Chetan Kumar and the rest of the ESPNcricinfo team. Goodnight!

strong>Imran Tahir: "[Did you tick all the boxes tonight?] I think so, pretty much. But there's always room for improvement. Our bowlers obviously set the tone, and then in the middle period, the spinners bowled really well, especially Motie. He had a clear plan for small boundaries, as we know when you come to St Kitts. It was a brilliant effort from our bowling group. We're very pleased with that. Coming to the batting point of view, we obviously, as a captain, can't ask more than that. [Using the bowlers] It depends on the situation. Sometimes experience can obviously come into your head and say different things than what we plan. And I think that's what I felt we, to be honest with you, wanted to bowl offies from both sides because they have a lot of left-handers. But then I felt like, with the rain and everything, we are trying to give my seamers a go and see where we are, but they still had a good power play. But I still feel that we bowled really well apart from one or two overs. Obviously, they had a good one, but in the middle period, I think that's where we won the game. We bowled really well as a group until the end. [Ben McDermott] Look, I'm really happy for him. Basically, we sign him. He's a great guy, willing to do really well. And, I mean, we got him and what we expected from him, and he delivered. And I think I can't ask for more than that. He's a fantastic player and on a fantastic team, and he was here the week before. He was in the camp with us. He did what he had to do, worked a little bit, and obviously, obviously, did what he's capable of. [Next match] No game is easy. We all know that it's a long competition. Every game is as important as when we are playing our last league game. So, going in there, definitely there's a gap. I think we all would like to have a rest for two or three days and go really hard in the two-day practice session. And pretty much the guys have been in very good nick; whatever they needed to do, we did it in the camp. Now is the game time, and then obviously we need to see how we can save ourselves to deliver our best in the games coming up. [Kyle Mayers' dismissal] I definitely caught the ball [laughter]."

Jason Holder: "Evin has obviously been a big player for us. To lose him at that stage was crucial; hopefully, it's not too serious. He can be a power player for the tournament, but obviously, I just didn't think we applied ourselves well enough. So we didn't really adapt to the conditions. Must give Guyana credit. I thought they bowled well, but no, having said that, probably 20-25 runs short. I thought they went in that period as well, too. But we lack a little bit of intent. We probably got a little bit quiet heading up to the 10-over mark, which really brought them back in the game. But having said that, after losing Evin and being a batter short, we probably wanted to stretch and go a little bit deeper. So I'm not too disheartened by the effort. I just think had we come off a little bit better after the 10-over mark, maybe it would have been a different story in terms of the total. But I think, having said that, there are still a lot of positives in the game and a lot of things to take forward. [Bowling combination] We've got the option. I just think we have to play as we see it. I think going into the tournament, obviously, the wickets tend to slow down a lot, so that could be a factor for us. But we'll assess that as we go along. I think we've got a really good bowling unit, as we said before, we got 10 wickets yesterday. We've got five today, and it is a matter of just keeping building."

Player of the Match, Ben McDermott: "[This innings] Probably up there. So it was a nice start to the CPL, so I'm just happy to contribute to a win and get us on the board first. That was nice. [Comparing CPL with other franchise leagues] I'll let you know in nine more, hopefully 10-11, more games. But yeah, cricket's a funny game. You don't want to get too heavy yourself. But I'm really pleased with the start that I had tonight and hopefully can kick-start something throughout this tournament. The seamers were a little bit nicer than the spinners. I couldn't really get Waqar away from there. He bowled nicely. But there was a bit of swing earlier, and from there it was pretty nice to bat on. [Batting with Shai Hope] It was fantastic. He's obviously in fine form at the moment, one of the best in the world, not less the West Indies. Lovely to bat with him. I played a bit with him in the Hurricanes as well. So it was nice to be back batting with him again."

10:59 pm The Patriots' losing streak against the Warriors continues, as they suffer their fifth consecutive defeat. The Warriors began their run chase cautiously, losing their opening batter, Anderson, in the second over. However, McDermott responded promptly, scoring 19 runs in the fourth over. He and Shai Hope then grabbed control of the game with a stunning 114-run partnership, with McDermott scoring his first CPL fifty on debut. McDermott's aggressive batting was a game-changer, and he finished with 75 runs off just 39 balls. It's worth noting that Naseem dropped him when he was on 32, which could have changed the outcome of the match. Despite a few late wickets, the Warriors never looked to be in trouble. Hope saw the team to victory, remaining unbeaten with 56 runs. For the Patriots, Abbas Afridi took two wickets, while Naseem, Salamkheil, and Farooqi each picked up one.

Guyana Amazon Warriors won by 5 wickets

around the wicket

Here's Jason Holder