CPL Draft day is set to take place in London tomorrow and many cricket lovers around the region are anxiously waiting to see the composition of the respective teams.
To say the least, fans of the Guyana Amazon Warriors who are yet to win a title after six seasons, will hope for that frustration to end in 2019 and it all begins at the draft – the process of piecing together a possible winning unit.
Warriors’ Operations Manager, Omar Khan, who is yet again involved in the coordination of the team, is the man given the mandate to piece the puzzle together.
Straight off the bat, Khan who seems to be in ultra-aggressive mode acquired the services of his fellow Trinidadian Nicholas Pooran as Warriors’ Marquee Player for the 2019 event.
The next step comes on draft-day where he would point out who are the five retained players, having already highlighted the marquee player. Warriors will have the option of retaining three West Indian players, one overseas player and the team’s ICC Americas Player from 2018.
Though there is no obligation to retain anyone, a few decisions should appear straight forward in that Warriors can afford to build a winning unit around Guyana’s talent pool by retaining the services of Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford and Keemo Paul as the returning West Indian trio – all of whom can form a formidable middle order along with Pooran.
Paul and Rutherford, as we know, are handy proponents with the ball.
On a more difficult note, deciding on which overseas player to retain may create a few headaches and one might appreciate South Africa’s Imran Tahir’s contribution last season as a standout among the lot. His retention, along with the acquisition of another quality spinner could form part of a potent bowling attack.
With that aspect out of the way, Warriors should then aim to pull from the draft pool their opening batting combination and an experienced middle-order batsman or two – one with leadership qualities – to join an already exciting batting line up.
Meanwhile, addressing the fast-bowling department will also require special attention at the draft where Warriors can gamble with the likes of Guyanese trio Romario Shepherd, Clinton Pestano and Keon Joseph with the hope of acquiring an overseas attacking option or a West Indian speedster to spearhead the attack. Shepherd and Pestano are also pretty handy with the bat lower down the order.
