Guyana Amazon Warriors captain Chris Green was confident the team had enough runs on the board but believes failing to adhere to its bowling plan proved costly.

In truth, perhaps the Warriors, last season’s beaten finalist, will be relieved to not match the previous campaign's accomplishments, where they did not lose a match until the final of the competition.  On Tuesday, on the back of the sizzling 63 from Shimron Hetmyer and 33 from Ross Taylor saw the post a respectable 144 for 5 in a reduced 17 overs.

In defense of the total, the Warriors got off to a strong start.  Afghan pace sensation Naveen-ul-Haq, teamed with Green and Romario Shepherd combining to keep Knight Riders’ openers Narine and Lendl Simmons to just 9 off the first 3 overs.  The Knight Riders found their feet with Narine hitting Green over midwicket.

"It was going to be tough beating 11 wins in a row from last year. Was a tough game, and the first game in a long time, so. Given the start, losing two early wickets, I think Taylor and Hetmyer batted really well,” Green said.

“We thought 140 would be a good score. We spoke about holding that length, and when we went away from that, we got hurt. Plenty of room for improvement."