THE Amazon Warriors are hungrily pursuing their first Caribbean Premier League title but will face an in-form and dominant Red Steel later today in the second playoff of this Hero-sponsored 2015 edition. The Steel thumped the Jamaican Tallawahs on Thursday evening and now come face-to-face with the team that denied them the top of the table finish.
Nonetheless, the Warriors are banking on their knowledge of the Queens Park Oval pitch and one player, Lendl Simmons feels that the pitch will suit several batsmen. “Going to Trinidad is a familiar pitch to me, Denesh (Ramdin) and Sunil (Narine) and we could use that to our advantage and I think that it might be a little better for stroke play for guys like (Brad) Hodge and (Umar) Akmal where the ball comes on a little better than in Guyana.”
Simmons, who on Tuesday hammered an impressive 65 not out to deny the Red Steel their top-of-the-table spot, says that he will remain positive and confident as he heads to his home country of Trinidad and Tobago.
“I think that form is just being positive and having confidence in yourself that you can do well. Form is not like when you are hitting the ball cleanly or what the case might be. That happens as normal for every batsman. When you are consistent, that is when you are considered as having form. So I think it’s about going out there and expressing my form.”
Meanwhile the Red Steel have their own in-form hitter, Darren Bravo, who has been hitting oppositions out of the Park. Darren alone slammed 86 (63 balls, 4×4 6×6) to put the Jamaican Tallawahs out of the competition on Thursday and has been the heart of the Steel’s resurgence. His older brother and Steel captain Dwayne Bravo chipped in as well with a 5-wicket haul to cap an emphatic win for the side.
After the match, Dwayne shared his views about the side’s current performance. “We all enjoyed Darren batting and he is peaking at the right time. This was another match-winning innings and it is very important for us as a team for our best batter to be among the runs.”
Today’s match begins at 16:30hrs.

By Stephan Sookram