… Stars gunning to spoil party, says Watson

THE Guyana Amazon Warriors will aim to sign off their home leg of the Hero Caribbean Premier League campaign on a high by clinching the fourth and final game this evening against a beleaguered St Lucia Stars.
The contest is billed for an 18:00hrs start at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
The Warriors have not played to their full potential, at least for the first six games.
Their below-par performances have left them for the second time in three days, in a must-win game today to stay in the hunt for a semifinal spot.
The equation now, which looks simple on paper, is that the Warriors need to win the remaining three games and hope for other results to pan out in their favour.
The Warriors lost five of their seven games, three overseas and the first two at home, but bounced back in style on Sunday evening with a comprehensive win over the Barbados Tridents.
The men in green, red and yellow scripted their turnaround, with opener Chadwick Walton playing a match-winning hand, hitting 92 off 57 balls in the Warriors run chase of 160 for victory.
In that light, perhaps it is good news that the Warriors top-order batting has restored some pride, something they failed to deliver consistently for the first six games of the tournament.

The bowling held up well for the first six games but couldn’t stand up to the Tridents. However, that should not be too much of an issue for the Warriors, since home advantage always plays that key role.
On the other hand, the Stars have lost their first six matches of the campaign to be bottom of the six-team table with virtually no chance of making the playoffs.
Stars lost the curtain-raiser to current leaders Trinbago Knight Riders by nine wickets before also going down to TKR in the return game in Port of Spain.
They then shockingly lost their remaining four home games at the Darren Sammy Cricket Ground, showing little of the form that took them to the playoffs last year.
However, new skipper Shane Watson admitted that while the results are not what they expected, the players remain motivated ahead of the Warriors’ clash.
“Everyone is very motivated because we still have a lot to play for… yea we know the final is out of reach, but we certainly have a lot to play for as a team, collectively and also individually as well we want to put out our best performances as well, so everyone has a lot of pride in his own performances,” Watson disclosed yesterday during a pre-match press conference.
Watson, who replaced Darren Sammy, acknowledged that it has been a difficult season for the Stars, adding that a number of factors have contributed to the poor performances.
“A lot of different things have happened, be it injury, where it’s about availability and there is also the human nature of the game of cricket as well … sometimes it doesn’t go exactly to the plan for the individual and team as well, and unfortunately this year just hasn’t gone as planned for us,” the Australian said.
Watson pointed out that for the Stars to be competitive tonight, they must better the Warriors’ team combination and execution.