By Avenash Ramzan
The self-proclaimed “Universe Boss” Chris Gayle cut loose against the Trinbago Knight Riders on Monday, blazing to his 18th T20 hundred, and the Guyana Amazon Warriors have been busy over the past few days trying to devise a plan to stop the runs from flowing off the huge blade of the Jamaica Tallawahs captain.
The strapping left-hander has been in fantastic form in the tournament, opening with 51 against the St Kitts Patriots and then following up with a brutal 108 not out off 54 balls with 11 sixes against the Knight Riders.
Those innings have given the Tallawahs a clean slate of victories in the tournament, and on Thursday they come up against the other unbeaten team, Guyana Amazon Warriors, in the opening game of the Guyana leg of the Hero CPL.
At the pre-match press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Warriors captain Martin Guptill spoke of his team’s plans to counter Gayle, without letting too much out of the bag.
“I think we look at the way Trinidad bowled to him, and we try and do the opposite really,” Guptill responded when asked how he would prep his bowlers for the Gayle test. “Look, we’ve got a couple of plans in place. Hopefully, we’re going to put them into practice today [Wednesday] and execute well tomorrow [Thursday] night.”
With Gayle being a bit suspect against off-spinners, the Warriors may be tempted to tinker with the bowling department by handing a game to Steven Jacobs. However, Guptill said a decision on the bowling attack will be made on match day.
“We have discussed that yet, and we haven’t made a firm decision on the final eleven, so you’ll have to find out at the toss tomorrow what the eleven is,” Guptill said.
Meanwhile, Jamaica Tallawahs batting all-rounder Rovman Powell believes the franchise has enough firepower to pull off a win, even if Gayle fails.
“To be honest, there is really no pressure [if Gayle fails]. If Gayle fires, Gayle fires, but you got to look at the line-up and realise that there is a Kumar Sangakkara, there is a Shakib Al Hasan, there is a Imad Wasim…there is also a Rovman Powell you know. There’s alot of cricketers who have done well on low and slow tracks as Guyana so we don’t feel pressured as batting unit,” Powell boasted.
The first ball will be delivered at 19:00h and a sold out crowd is anticipated.
