After disposing of Jamaica Thursday night the unbeaten Guyana Amazon Warriors will be eying their fourth consecutive win come today when they play the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in match 10 of the 2016 Hero Caribbean Premier League (HCPL) at the Providence National Stadium.
The home team steamed-rolled the Tallawahs in the first of four Home matches, beating the previously unbeaten Jamaica side by seven wickets. With momentum in the camp after winning three-out-of-three, the Warriors will square off against the Patriots whom they defeated in their first match of the tournament in St Kitts.
A shift in venue now means the local team has the advantage, especially after knocking over a strong Jamaican line-up for an even 100 a few nights ago. While the bowling has never been much of a worry for Guyana over the years, the Patriots will have an evenly matched battery of bowlers who are capable of utilizing the conditions at Providence just as the local players would.
With some of the key members in the Patriots side; Brad Hodge, Lendl Simmons, Krishmar Santokie being former Warriors, it will be interesting to see how they will perform at Providence. The batsmen on both teams have been consistent thus far and while Guyana will want Martin Guptill to fire, the Patriots will also want Carlos Brathwaite to break his string of low scores and live up to the hype he gained due to his show at the T20 World Cup.
Key men with the bat for the Warriors will be Chris Lynn, Jason Mohammed, Anthony Bramble and Dwayne Smith, who have been among the runs. Recently Warriors Head Coach Roger Harper said that he was confident that his middle/lower-order batsmen, who have not yet had the chance to bat, would come to the party at the right time.
St Kitts will look to Simmons and the in-form Evin Lewis to continue their form, while the skipper South African Faf Du Plessis, Hodge, Johnathan Carter, Thisara Perera and Devin Thomas, who is in brilliant power-hitting form, could all play crucial roles today.
As for the bowling, both sides have the muscle, especially in the spin department which will play a big role on a flat, sluggish Providence track. Adam Zampa, the Australian leg-spinner was the leading wicket-taker in the recently concluded Tri-Nations Series played in the Caribbean and much like South African chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi, who was also successful during the Tri-series, both sides will look to their ace spinners to bowl well.
Samuel Badree, the number one T20 bowler in the world will also play a huge role for the Patriots, so too will Santokie and Brathwaite who will likely be the frontline seamers along with Perera. Guyana on the other hand will be keen on playing three spinners, Zampa, MVP from the last match, left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul who grabbed 3-20 and possibly off-spinning all-rounder Steven Jacobs.
Pakistan’s Sohail Tanvir is in amazing bowling form and the left-arm seamer will partner with seasoned all-rounder Rayad Emrit as the two seam options, along with Barnwell for Guyana. The Warriors are number one on the table with six points while the Patriots have two points and are placed third.
The match starts at noon.