After their sixth attempt in a Republic Bank CPL final, last year the Guyana Amazon Warriors finally won their maiden title on home-soil in front of a capacity crowd at the National Stadium, Providence, when they defeated arch-rivals the Trinbago Knightriders (TKR) by nine wickets with six overs to spare.
This time around, despite having a rollercoaster campaign thus far, including two defeats to TKR in the league stage, the Warriors have managed to book a spot in the final tonight, where they will attempt to retain their title and make it back-to-back triumphs against the feisty St. Lucia Kings.
Ahead of tonight’s final, which is slated for 7:00pm at the same venue, Amazon Warriors head-coach Lance Klusener stated in a media interview that the Warriors mindset will not change as they face the Kings, whom they lost to in qualifier one earlier in the week. Asked about the importance of the team winning a second title at home, Klusener said, “I think the beauty of not just Guyana but the CPL is that the franchises are countries as well, and just to see the people getting behind not just the Amazon Warriors but the Guyana team as a whole is something that is special and doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world. That for us is special, you play for your country, you play for the badge on the front, and as a franchise, that for us is a bonus.”