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Warriors disappoint loyal fans, Where did they go wrong?
By Zaheer Mohamed
Kaieteur News – The Guyana Amazon Warriors had two chances to make it to the grand finale of this years’ CPLT20, however they failed at both attempts, much to the disappointment of thousands of loyal fans.
The Warriors needed to win their four home matches to advance, following disappointing performances in most of their away games – they did and this landed them a place in the playoffs.
However, the Warriors went down to Barbados Royals by 87 runs in qualifier 1 and lost to eventual Champions Jamaica Tallawahs by 37 runs in qualifier 2. Jamaica won the final against the Royals by eight wickets.
This was the first time the final was played in Guyana, and it will be held here for the next two years- the local fans were hoping that the Warriors would have not only made it to the final, but win the coveted prize.
The Warriors loyal fans showed support for their team, but had to leave the stadium in disappointment following their team exit. (Zaheer Mohamed photo)
But what went wrong for the Guyana based franchise, as many would put it a comedy of errors.
There were many questionable decisions much to the dismay of the fans who got emotional following the Warriors exit from the competition.
Opener Chandrapaul Hemraj endured a poor run of form and was still preferred at the top of the order when Jamaican Jermaine Blackwood should have been given a chance. Hemraj scored 43 runs in his last four innings before he was replaced by Paul Sterling who also seemed out of sorts, much to the consternation of many.
Blackwood is an aggressive batsman who has 2566 runs from 48 test matches with a best of 112 not out. He also bowls off-breaks.
Captain Shimron Hetmyer batted too late in the order-he should have come in at three- as the best batsman in the team, one would want to face as many deliveries, especially when chasing sizeable totals.
Odean Smith is one of the hardest hitters in the team and despite scoring a cameo 42 off 16 balls with six sixes against the Jamaica Tallawahs and 22 off seven balls with three sixes versus Trinbago Knight Riders prior to the playoffs, Romario Shepherd, who seemed out of form and left arm spinner Gudakesh Motie were surprisingly sent in ahead of him in at crucial stages.
Motie was guilty of bowling too fast on a pitch that rendered much assistance to spinners, even young Junior Sinclair bowled too fast at times. Smith bowled consistently short and despite being smashed over the ropes, he continued to pitch the ball short, much to the liking of the batsmen especially Shamar Brooks, and his four overs against the Tallawahs in Qualifier 2 leaked 64. Shepherd was also regularly off target and they both lacked variation.
The field placement and bowling changes raised eyebrows among many cricketing pundits. The fielding was way below par as too many catches were put down at critical juncture, and they paid the price.
Playing as a unit is a key ingredient of any winning combination and clearly this was not evident within the team.
Rotation of players in any tournament is important since it prevents burning out and helps to maintain a certain level of performance, the competition within the squad and achieve objectives- this was lacking and the Warriors seemed tired in the latter stages of the tournament.
The bowling of Sinclair in his first set of games is one of the positives the Warriors can take out from this tournament. Rahmanullah Gurbaz beefed up the Warriors batting in his debut season and so did Shai Hope, while Keemo Paul half century against the Tallawahs was a welcome one under pressure.
Sometimes it’s not always about winning and losing, but it’s how you play the game. Winning and losing is determined not by the presence of a great deal of talent in a team, but by which team play better on the day.
At times one does not mind ending up on the wrong side of the result, as long as the players give their best, but this performance clearly was not the Warriors best effort.
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