GAW tackle Tallawahs, Patriots face Tridents as CPL moves to Queen's Park

GAW tackle Tallawahs, Patriots face Tridents as CPL moves to Queen’s Park

Aug 25, 2020 Sports

Will the Warriors get it right this time to beat the Tallawahs a second time. (CPL T20 Ltd 2020)

The teams will be hoping for better performances, especially with the bat as the Caribbean Premier League moves to the Queen’s Park Oval today with two matches. Last year’s finalists the Guyana Amazon Warriors will face Jamaica Tallawahs at 17:30hrts, while St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots will play defending champions Barbados Tridents from 10:00hrs in the opening contest of the day.
The Warriors went down to Zouks by 10 runs in their previous encounter, but their skipper Chris Green said his players are very positive. “We have played four games so far, we had a scrappy win and unfortunately we fell short the other night, the boys are still in great spirit, I am really impressed with the way we are bowling and fielding. Batting in these conditions is pretty tough, we have got some guys who starts and showing a bit of form. Pooran. Rutherford and Paul in the last game got a good opportunity to bat, hopefully they can get a bit of form now and put some runs on the board,” he stated at a press conference held yesterday.
Green added that there is always pressure on every team to win games. “There is always pressure on every team to win games, this year obviously with the different nature of the tournament and playoffs its crucial just to make that top four. We are well aware of what we need to do, we are continuing to build, we want to play a better cricket at the back end of the tournament and I think we are on the right path. The batters getting in and get some time in the middle is something we have been starved of for the past six months. The bowlers have started to get that feeling back and I don’t think our batters are far away and once they start firing and we start getting into gear I think we can get where we want to. We are third on the table now and I don’t think there is any need to panic, we have just got to stay positive, stay together as a unit and continue to learn through each game.”
The Warriors opening pair of Brandon King and Chandrapaul Hemraj have not yet repeat the type of form they showed in last year’s tournament, but Green is positive that they will come good.
“This is the nature of this game, I am not concerned on anyone’s form at the moment, some guys miss out, some guys get runs, if you look at King’s unbelievable ru

Will there be more heroics from Andre Russell for the Tallawahs. (CPL T20 Ltd 2020)

n last year, there is always going to be pressure on him to try and match that, he is a quality player, he has done well for us in the pass and we have full faith in him coming right. Hemraj has showed glimpses of it as well through different stages and I back these guys. I don’t think they are far away from big scores. It’s a new ground now hopefully some better conditions for batting we have full faith in our players.”
Green added that they have discussed a number of options and if they want to arrive at their best XI for each game. “We have discussed different options, we have some quality players there. We need to access what’s our best XI for each game, we are managing our fast bowlers and ensuring they are in a great place for the majority of the tournament, we have got to do the same with our batsmen and ensure that all our players are in the best frame of mind. We have 10 games in 15 days so we don’t want guys fall by the way side, we have got to continue to rotate them and make a few fresh changes as we have done with Nedd. I think he has injected a lot of entertainment into our line-up and that youth policy obviously helps us there.”
The skipper said he is impressed with young Nedd.
“I am really impressed, a young player like that bowling spin particularly at that Jamaican side and the game against St. Lucia where he held his nerve. He was able to repeat what I asked of him, I think he is an exciting young talent for Guyana the West Indies. We have so much depth in this team having to leave someone like Romario Shepherd on the bench for that youth policy is an incredibly tough decision.”
Green pointed out that the pacers have done a great job and they want to secure their playoff spot. “We want to be peaking at the back end of the tournament and to utilize those 10 preliminary games of solid learning and push our case for that first title.”
“We are taking one game at a time. Our prime focus now is on that Jamaica game, we had a great win against them and we want to continue to improve. CPL is different, we haven’t seen our fans to help get that positive energy, I think as a Guyanese team and playing at Providence is one of the profound things of the tournament. We love the energy and the excitement we get from playing in front of our home fans who really support us. We are extremely grateful for the messages that all our players are receiving from everyone in Guyana and around the world. This year is different, we are confined to the hotel, but we have got a really good family vibes within this team and that helps us through. We are on this learning phase and we want to continue to get better, we are going to lose some games along the way, but we want to win more and grow as a team, and we want to win the competition this year.”
Tallawahs skipper Rovman Powell said they have had a mixed start to the competition but still remain positive of making the playoffs. “The guys are still positive about making it to the playoffs and finals. We started pretty good but the game against Guyana really hurt us. The pitch was tricky pitch but we were supposed to get that score, it was an atrocious display for us,” he said. Powell stated that the lack of training may be the reason for their below par performance so far. “We were hoping we could have had a few practice games but it was affected by rain, we have to turn around the batting performances and support Andre Russell and set it up for him.”
Powell is looking for a more batting friendly pitch in today’s game.
Today’s fixtures:
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots vs Barbados Tridents at Queen’s Park Oval – 10:00am
Jamaica Tallawahs v Guyana Amazon Warriors at Queen’s Park Oval – 05:30pm
Caribbean Premier League Standings
TEAM M W L PT NRR
TKR 3 3 0 6 0.728
ZOUKS 4 3 1 6 0.302
GAW 4 2 2 4 0.313
JT 3 1 2 2 -0.301
BT 3 1 2 2 -0.538
STKNP 3 0 3 0 -0.733