CPL: Amazon Warriors battle desperate Tridents at the Oval tonight

(Reporting and Photography by Akeem Greene in Barbados)

The Hero Caribbean Premier League points table portrays it as a mismatch.

Guyana Amazon Warriors, who are for now comfortably placed in third position, battle Barbados Tridents, who languish in the cellar spot.

Warriors have eight points with four wins and two losses, while Tridents have four points, with the reverse win-loss ratio. They clash tonight at 20:00h in front a Barbados crowd growing impatient.

Amazon Warriors are cognisant that now is not the time to have any slip-ups with the race for the four playoff spots tightening. Another defeat for the Tridents at home could effectively close the door on their campaign.

For this reason, captain Jason Holder told News Room Sport they have to be extremely positive since there is no time for being cautious; Tridents have lost all three of their home matches this season.

At the pre-match press conference held at the Hilton Barbados Resort, Tridents’ Assistant Coach Vasbert Drakes stated, “All is not lost; we have to start playing the cricket we are capable of doing. We have four matches remaining and obviously we just got to focus on one match at a time and this is a great opportunity for us to play the cricket that we want to play and the public wants to see.”

Tridents have one of the most star-studded top-orders in the tournament with the likes of Martin Guptill, Dwayne Smith, Hashim Amla and Steve Smith.

You would expect such prolific names to win more matches than they have, but they have struggled to forge partnerships. Only S. Smith and Shai Hope have a partnership over 100, one of which brought Tridents their first win of the season, against the Warriors at Providence.

“Twenty-over cricket is a funny game- you have all the plans, but at the end of the day you need to execute and we have not being doing that to our true potential. We had some frank discussions around what is necessary for us to play to win cricket games, so hopefully tomorrow [Friday] we execute,” Drakes explained.

Warriors have a rich history at the venue; during the last visit, Sohail Tanveer swung Tridents out for just 59. He produced astonishing figures of 5-3 in four overs and it is an accomplishment the visitors are buoyed by, according to all-rounder Roshon Primus.

In regards to securing a playoff spot, he stated, “We are taking it day by day; we are not really thinking about the playoffs; we are going step by step.”

Assistant Coach Rayon Griffith noted, “We know they are a good side, but we have capable players to get the job done. It is all about executing and who finishes well. We are here for the challenge.”

All-rounder Keemo Paul has a slide shoulder niggle and there is uncertainty whether he will play tonight since he took no major part in practice on Thursday. According to Griffith, they still have not made a decision whether Paul will play, but there are able replacements should he not be cleared.

The pitch on Wednesday evening for the match against Jamaica Tallawahs was a fast-bowlers’ delight as it offered good bounce and pace. With the threat of rain and the dew factor, chasing looks more the safer route.

Barbados Tridents squad: Barbados Tridents Squad: Martin Guptill, Hashim Amla, Dwayne Smith, Jason Holder(c), Nicholas Pooran, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan, Raymon Reifer, Ashley Nurse, Roston Chase, Shai Hope, Tion Webster, Imran Khan, Shamar Springer, Sunny Sohal, Chemar Holder, Dominic Drakes, Steven Smith.

Guyana Amazon Warriors squad: Sohail Tanveer, Chadwick Walton, Cameron Delport, Rayad Emrit(c), Imran Tahir, Jason Mohammed, Luke Ronchi, Veerasammy Permaul, Roshon Primus, Shimron Hetmyer, Devendra Bishoo, Gajanand Singh, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Keemo Paul, Saurabh Netravalkar, Akshaya Persaud, Chris Green.