As the 2019 HERO Caribbean Premier League (CPL) enters the final stage, undefeated Guyana Amazon Warriors will push for a spot in the finals when they take on Barbados Tridents in the first qualifier while St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots will battle Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in the eliminator today at the National Stadium, Providence.
At 15.30 hours, the hosts, with their slate wiped clean following their unprecedented 10 wins and no losses qualifying campaign, will start afresh knowing that a win will guarantee them a spot in Saturday’s final at the Brian Lara Stadium, Trinidad and Tobago.
A loss, however, will not completely rule them out as they will face the winner of the eliminator on Tuesday.
Speaking at the press conference on the ground floor of the Presidential Suite at the venue for today’s contest, skipper of the Warriors Shoaib Malik, downplayed his team’s performance but supported their position of taking each match one at a time.
“There is no overconfidence in our team, I guess every day is a new day and what we have achieved of course is an exceptional thing but of course that is past now and coming tomorrow we will focus on that and focus on what is coming our way and not winning all the games is just who you are playing against and giving it your best shot,” Malik said.
The skipper highlighted that despite the conversations on the Warriors’ past of making it to four finals and not winning the title, he believed that it is the past and will not focus on it but focus on what they are doing now.
“I think we are moving in the right direction. We made a few changes throughout the tournament and fortunately, whoever came into the side performed consistently which is a great sign for us and everyone is fit,” he stated.
The Warriors have not had any player stand out above the others but their opening pair of Brandon King (321 runs) and Chandrapaul Hemraj (271 runs) have laid the foundations for them. Their middle order has been expertly led by Malik (281 runs) with Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul and Nicholas Pooran all showing up on centre stage of the biggest party in sport.
With the ball, the Warriors have mixed and matched their combinations but their spinners have been by far the best in the tournament.
Leg-spinner, Imran Tahir and off-break bowler, Chris Green have both taken 13 wickets while Romario Shepherd and Paul have bagged nine and 10 scalps respectively.
In addition to their chop and changes between Odean Smith, Ben Laughlin (seven wickets) and Qais Ahmad (seven wickets), Warriors have utilized their hidden talents in Malik (five wickets) and Hemraj (five wickets) to produce spells on various occasions that have proven decisive.
Tridents captain, Jason Holder admitted that it is going to be a tough challenge to counter the Warriors but banked on his team’s “slowly but surely” unification to do the trick.
“They’ve played exceptional cricket and I think for them they have not had one or two individuals taking it for them, they seem to adopt well it would be a tough challenge,” Holder acknowledged but vowed, “We peaked at the right time and our guys are full of confidence and tomorrow is expected to be keenly contested and we will be a really good challenge for the Amazon Warriors.”
For the former champions, Johnson Charles with 321 runs has been their stand out batsman. Jean-Paul Duminy has also shown consistency with 267 runs.
However, no other batsman has managed to find consistent performances with the bat.
Contrastingly, with the ball, Tridents have found a talisman in leg-spinner, Hayden Walsh Jr., who, in just six matches, has taken 17 wickets to sit at the top of the bowling charts for the competition.
Holder, who has taken a dozen wickets so far, has welcomed the inclusion of Shakib Al Hassan who he credits will boost both departments.
According to the captain, Al Hassan also brings his experience and leadership which will add value to the side.
Consistently, these two sides have taken the most wickets among the six franchises with Warriors ahead with 84 wickets and Tridents with 75 scalps.
Also on today’s agenda, it will be all or nothing for the defending champions, TKR and Patriots when they clash to stay alive from 11.00 hours.
Captain of TKR, Kieron Pollard has accepted his team’s dismal performance of recent times where they failed to win a match in their last five outings.
However, he noted the various accounts of injuries to key players and their scheduling conflict.
At the top of the list was the absence of Dwayne Bravo as well as Sunil Narine, absences which Pollard indicated had affected their top order and bowling department. On Friday, TKR experimented with Javon Searles at the top of the order but that didn’t work.
Nevertheless, Pollard welcomed the inclusion of Lendl Simmons, who, despite not being drafted at the initial stages, has returned to be the tournament’s leading run getter with 378 runs.
The skipper himself has found success with the bat, also passing the 300-run mark coupled with a 154 strike rate. But this season what added to the benefit of the side was his ability to pace his innings and showcase his maturity when batting.
Colin Munro is another batsman that has shown grit in the side with 200 runs under his belt but no other batsman stands out.
In the bowling department, Jimmy Neesham has taken 11 wickets but has been taken to the cleaners with an economy rate exceeding 11.
Kharry Pierre also made valuable contributions but a lot more will be needed if they are to down Patriots.
Patriots have turned around their tournament with one loss in their last five contests compared to TKR’s last five losses but was wary of the old saying, “always beware of the wounded lion.”
Brathwaite hailed his team’s collective effort while relating that no single player has been dominant but individuals stepped up at different times to get the job done.
“It has been a collective effort, different players have performed at different times we are two games away from the final and looking forward to tomorrow’s game obviously,” Braithwaite stated.
With the bat, Trinidadian Evin Lewis has been their most successful batsman with 256 runs with Laurie Evans (219 runs) supporting well but the surprise has been Fabian Allen.
With a strike rate of 184, Allen has scored over 200 runs and capitalized on the back end of the innings to get his side to respectable totals. No surprise Patriots have collectively scored the most runs by a team.
Their bowling on the other hand has been inconsistent, barring Rayad Emrit and Sheldon Cottrell who have 11 wickets each.
