… Guptill returns home, Ronchi called up

FOLLOWING a much-needed day off on Wednesday after their four home games of the 2017 Hero Caribbean Premier League Twenty20 tournament ended on Tuesday evening, an upbeat Guyana Amazon Warriors unit resumed training yesterday at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.The Warriors, with two key round-robin encounters remaining, has for the first time in CPL history found themselves in such a complicated position, and their

games against Barbados Tridents on Tuesday (August 29), and Jamaica Tallawhas on Friday (September 1), are must-win games if they stand a chance of qualifying for the playoffs.A loss for Warriors on Tuesday will make the final league match merely an academic affair.The Warriors have blown hot and cold throughout the tournament, and haven’t looked sharp, at least for the first six games. They however, rebounded nicely, winning their last two encounters at home by commanding margins. The two hammerings – one against Tridents on Sunday evening, and the other against St Lucia Stars on Tuesday evening – boosted the Warriors’ morale, heading into their final two games. However, with the playoffs on the line, the Warriors must be at their best in all three departments of the game, since playing their oppositions in their own backyard would not be an easy task.The Warriors’ batting was a huge let-down for the first six games, but judging from their last two performances, the batting seems to be hitting peak form at the right time.The options they have in the bowling department are their greatest strength so once the batting can complement that top-class bowling department then positive results are predictable in the remaining two games. Trinbago Knight Riders and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots have already confirmed for the playoffs, which means the battle for the other two places will come from the Warriors, Tridents and the Tallawahs. Both the Tridents and the Tallawahs have four remaining games. Meanwhile, the Guyana Amazon Warriors have replaced their captain and opening batsman, Martin Guptill, with fellow New Zealander wicketkeeper/batsman Luke Ronchi for the remainder of the tournament.Unfortunately Guptill has to return to New Zealand because of an important family health matter and as such the Warriors team will be without their appointed captain for the rest of the 2017 Hero CPL.Ronchi has just completed his stint in the NatWest T20 Blast in England where he played with Leicestershire and is currently one of the top ten

scorers in the League with 429 runs at a strike rate of 180.25.Omar Khan, Operations Manager of the Guyana Amazon Warriors, said: “It’s unfortunate and hugely disappointing to lose Martin at this stage of the tournament, but we empathise with his situation and he has our full support as he returns home to his family. We welcome Luke to the Guyana Amazon Warriors family and his wealth of experience and explosive batting in this format will certainly be an asset to our team.”Guptill scored 142 runs from seven innings and was in his fourth year with the Guyana Amazon Warriors.