Latest update December 23rd, 2024 3:40 AM
Hero CPL T20 Cricket… Warriors out to deny Red Steel direct route to Final
Sunil Narine will be one to cause problems for the T&T batsmen.
By Sean Devers
With St Lucia Zouks and St Kitts & Nevis Patriots out of the Hero CPL title race, it means that defending Champions Barbados Tridents, Jamaica Tallawahs, T&T Red Steel and last year’s runner-up Guyana Amazons Warriors have all qualified for the semi-finals set for Trinidad from Thursday.
The Tridents sit at the top of the points table with 12 from 10 matches, while the Tallawahs finished fourth with 9 points from 10 games but all of that could change tonight at Providence Stadium when the Red Steel and the Warriors go head to head in the final preliminary round game from 18:00hrs.
The Warriors are on 9 points from 9 games and although they cannot take the top place they are out to deny the Red Steel a victory which would take them to 13 points and a direct route the 2015 final.
A win for the Warriors tonight will take them to second place due to superior net run rate and the Tridents will advance to their second consecutive final in the three year history of the CPL. Rain is forecast for today but a washed out game will not hurt the Warriors since a point will take them to 10 points and third in the standings.
The Guyana Franchise will be keen to avenge the heart breaking loss against the Red Steel in St Kitts when, with two to win from two balls, Devendra Bishoo over stepped by centimeters off the penultimate delivery as Denish Ramdin appealed for a stumping against Jevon Searles (on hindsight unwisely since this allowed the 3rd Umpire to
Brad Hodge has been the leading batsman for the Warriors.
notice the no ball) and a six was struck off the free hit that followed.
Apart from the win against the Tallawahs, none of their four wins have been convincing and on a slow and low track with prodigious turn for the spinners the Warriors will want to head to Trinidad with an emphatic win tonight.
But this will only happen if the local side, which should get the overwhelming support of another capacity crowd, changes their approach and possibly their team.
If Assad Fudadin does not open the batting then he should not play since putting Brad Hodge, the team’s leading scorer, to open when he was doing a wonderful job at number four was baffling.
Chris Barnwell has had little chance to get a big score because he is batting too low in the order but when he got his chances he wasted them with poor shot selections, while Mechant DeLange seems a one dimensional bowler, who bowls fast but without any variety and struggles to get his yorker ‘right’ at the death costing his team plenty of runs, especially in Guyana’s conditions.
With a semi final spot already assured DeLange and Barnwell could be rested giving all-rounder Paul Wintz a chance to play before their home fans.
Fudadin’s job is to rotate the strike and bat through the innings without facing too many dot balls which has been the Warriors’ biggest problem, especially in the ‘power-play’ overs, while Lendl Simmons needs to bat with a positive mindset.
Skipper Ramdin has done well at ‘three’ while Hodge should return to number four with Umar Akmal, David Weise, Wintz and the three spinners coming in that order.
Weise bowled the perfect length and pace for the Providence pitch and Wintz is a similar bowler. Narine, although not as penetrative as before he had his action remodeled, is still the best and most confusing bowler to face in t20 cricket, while the Berbice pair of Bishoo and left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul, who has opened the bowling, have gotten better as the tournament progressed.
The Red Steel could pick all four of their spinners tonight in off-spinning all-rounder Johan Botha, left-arm spinners Sulieman Benn and Deron Davis along with Samuel Badree, who could share the new ball with South African Jacques Kallis.
Skipper Dwayne Bravo is one of the t20 all-rounders in this format and is the tournament’s leading wicket taker, while Kevon Cooper is also fast bowling all-rounder. Darren is a class act when in full flow but too often in the recent past he has flattered to deceive, while Kamran Akmal is competent behind and in front of the stumps and the experienced 39-year-old Kallis is one of the world’s best all-rounders.
The Trinidad unit has the done well against Guyana in this format, winning four of the seven games they have played. Both teams started badly but improved as the tournament went by but their last match produced contrasting results for them.
While the Red Steel beat the Tallawahs in Port-of-Spain the Warriors lost their third successive game to the Tridents, beginning with the 2014 final.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Chilling reminders that we are not safe
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- Georgetown was plunged into shock and terror last week after two heinous incidents laid... more
Breaking the Chains of Poverty: A need for political will
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The year 2024 has underscored a grim reality: poverty continues to be an unyielding... more
Weekend Cartoon
