By Rajiv Bisnauth

THE Guyana Amazon Warriors’ first step to winning their Inaugural Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will begin on June 20 when the official training camp gets underway.
The six-day camp will be under the supervision of head coach Roger Harper. However, two star players from the squad, skipper Martin Guptill and Australian Adam Zampa will not be able to join the training camp due to commitments elsewhere.
According to Operational Manager of the local franchise Omar Khan, the franchise has taken a decision to include Under-19 players, Akshaya Persaud, Keemo Paul and Tevin Imlach as part of the camp in order to have them exposed at a different level.
The Warriors have gone for eleven regional-based players including Barbados’ Dwayne Smith, Trinidad and Tobago’s Jason Mohammed, Rayad Emrit and Steven Katwaroo; Antigua’s Orlando Peters, Guyana’s Assad Fudadin, Christopher Barnwell, Steven Jacobs, Veerasammy Permaul, Paul Wintz and Anthony Bramble.
The squad also includes Australia’s Chris Lynn, Sohail Tanvir of Pakistan, and Muhammad Ahsan Ali Khan (ICC Americas).
Winning West Indies Youth World Cup captain Shimron Hetmyer was selected as the Under-19 player.
The Guyana Amazon Warriors will play ten games in the preliminary phase of the competition; four matches in Guyana, two in Florida and one each in Trinidad & Tobago, St Kitts & Nevis, Jamaica and St Lucia.
The Amazon Warriors will raise the curtain on their home fixtures on July 7 when they take on Jamaica Tallawahs, and will also clash with St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, Trinbago Knight Riders and St Lucia Zouks over a six-day period.
The Amazon Warriors have been one of the most consistent performers in the CPL. They reached the final in the inaugural 2013 season where they were beaten by Jamaica Tallawahs and repeated their feat the following year, only to be downed by Barbados Tridents in a dramatic final in St Kitts.
Meanwhile, tickets and merchandise went on sale from yesterday at the CPL office, 238 Camp and Quamina Streets, Georgetown.
Further, Khan revealed that a Berbice location for the sale of tickets will commence on Monday. However, that location was not yet finalised, according to Khan.
Khan also disclosed that CPL OPCO Guyana Inc., is working to setup an Essequibo location. The cost per ticket is the same as last year with $4 000 or US$20 for the Red and Green Stands, $3 000 or US$15 for Orange Stand and $2 000 or US$10 for the Grass Mound.