By Rajiv Bisnauth

HEAD coach of the Guyana Amazon Warriors, Roger Harper, has said that losing the toss and consequently the top order failure played an inordinate role in the result of the HERO Caribbean Premier League (CPL) final, which the local franchise lost by nine wickets to Jamaica Tallawahs last Sunday night. The Warriors were bitterly disappointed that after topping the league and beating the Jamaica Tallawhas in the first playoff, they saved their worst-ever batting performance for the final, and were dismissed for just 93, with only Sohail Tanvir making a significant contribution with the bat.
Harper lamented the fact that while they played some good cricket leading up to the final, his charges just did not show up at the final hurdle.
“We were not just up for it, especially when we lost the toss; it just appeared that our spirits went down,” Harper, a former West Indies vice-captain stated.
He added “The toss is part of our preparation leading up to a game, but having said that we were not competitive. It was a big occasion, big game and you look for your big players to perform, but the top four batsmen failed us.
The 53-year-old divulged that while the final was disappointing, it was a total team effort up until the final.
Harper said that despite this loss the team can take a lot of positives about how well they have played throughout this edition of the Hero CPL.
This was the third time that the Amazon Warriors have lost in the final and it will be one of the more painful defeats, but as Harper says they are ready to try again next year.