The Caribbean Premier league was born in 2013 and in its inaugural year, the Jamaica Tallawahs defeated the Guyana Amazon Warriors to win the final.
This year they defeated the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the semi-finals before toppling favourites the Barbados Royals to win their third CPL title.
The Guyana Amazon Warriors are yet to put their hands on the Holy Grail of Caribbean T20 cricket.
This year, the Guyana Amazon Warriors settled for the bronze, to the dismay of the thousands of fans who were hoping that the team would go all the way and win the title for once at home.
This article looks to assess what worked and what didn’t for the local franchise, what went wrong and what didn’t.
Heading to Guyana for the final leg, a lot of persons counted the Warriors out as they sat in the penultimate spot on the table with one win from six matches.
However, four wins on the trot from their remaining preliminary matches catapulted them into second place giving them two bites to get at the coveted cherry.
Unfortunately, a 37-run defeat to Barbados Royals in the first qualifier was followed by the same result against eventual champions, Jamaica Tallawahs, as the home team exited the tournament somewhat meekly.
Their batting did not fire consistently but nevertheless got scores of over 150 regularly. Only twice was the team bowled out and once contained to 81 for nine. In one instance, against Trinbago Knight Riders, they moved from 80-3 to 124 all out as their batting imploded. Against Royals, they also imploded from 39-3 to 81-9.
Shimron Hetmyer had a less than explosive run in his first stint as captain of the franchise and while he finished as the leading run-scorer for the side, his 281 runs from 11 innings came at a strike rate of 124 and an average of 25.5 with a best of 46.
Shai Hope showed encouraging performances with 252 runs from nine innings. Though his strike rate of 126 could have been better, he scored two vital half-centuries that kept Guyana in contention.
The Warriors benefitted immediately from the inclusion of Rahmanullah Gurbaz who ended with a hefty strike rate of 140. He scored two fifties in six innings and eventually ended as their third highest scorer with 157 runs.
Keemo Paul finished with a strike rate for the team at 150 and along with Shakib Al Hasan and Heinrich Klaasen, were the only others to score a half-century.
Klaasen, who left after the Trinidad and Tobago leg, was also missed for his sharp work behind the stumps that could have made a massive impact in the side.
Chandrapaul Hemraj struggled with a strike rate of 109 and average of 15.6, scoring 156 runs from 10 innings while overseas picks, Colin Ingram and Paul Stirling had short-lived runs with little impact with the bat. Stirling scored 15 runs from five innings while Ingram managed 19 runs from two innings.
There was a glimpse of the explosive power the Warriors had with Odean Smith and Paul cutting loose but it was inconsistent.
Romario Shepherd was not at his best with bat in hand, scoring just 79 runs from 10 innings at a strike rate of 96 and best of 36.
Partnerships were inconsistent but with Gurbaz, Hope and Hetmyer featuring three times in a 50-plus partnership, it showed positive signs for the side. However, only eight times could they forge partnerships past this landmark.
Reflecting on their tournament, their bowling did not come to the party, especially in the death overs. Against Jamaica in the second qualifier, Warriors conceded 88 runs in the last four overs. Smith returned figures of 1-64 in four overs while Shepherd had 2-43 in his four overs.
Earlier in the tournament, Warriors lost two matches in the death overs. Against St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots, Shepherd was spanked for three consecutive sixes in a 22-run final over while Tahir was taken for 16 in the over prior.
Before that, in their opening match, Tallawahs needed 50 from the last four overs and cruised to their target following a 23-run 18th over.
Shepherd was their most successful bowler, taking 14 wickets with an average of 18.2 and economy rate of 8.8.
Leggie, Tahir, continued to show his worth with 13 wickets while Smith bagged 11 wickets.
Shamsi, like Klaasen was a big miss for the Warriors, leaving before the Guyana leg.
He picked up eight wickets while his replacement, Al Hasan also bagged eight wickets.
Emerging player, Junior Sinclair featured in eight matches and took five wickets with his off-spin while scoring 40 runs in four innings, three of which he remained not out.
