– Defending champs Tridents face TKR in opener
By Clifton Ross
AFTER their low-scoring thriller a few days ago, the Guyana Amazon Warriors and Jamaica Tallawahs will have the opportunity to duke it out again, this time under lights, while defending CPL champions, Barbados Pride, battle Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) first in today’s double-header at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain.
A shift in venue and time will put all four sides on a new neutral turf, playing their first matches in the ‘Bio-Bubble’ at the legendary ground in the city. The Warriors pulled off the most daring heist thus far in the competition after they easily defended 118 to win by a whopping 14 runs, given the low-scoring nature of that game.
The quick turnaround between games will test both side this evening and looking back at the Warriors performances in the last encounter, as well as their loss to the St Lucia Zouks recently, it seems their middle-order is desperately in need of stability.
Apart from Shimron Hetmyer, who will enter another battle as the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 138, with two half-centuries under his belt, no other Warriors batsman has managed to make it into the top 10 leading run-getters thus far in the season.
The ‘almost hero’ Nicholas Pooran rightfully threw his bat away after throwing away the Warriors win on Sunday against the Zouks, further setting back the momentum train for the former 5-time finalists. The overly-aggressive Pooran hit 68, but assessing the outcome of the match, it could have been as significant as a duck because it failed to get his team over the line.
Pooran is the next best batsman in the team with 90 runs over all, falling outside the top 10, while New Zealander Ross Taylor’s 64 run from 4 matches is utterly unacceptable for a player of his calibre and class. The power-hitters have failed the Warriors miserably as Keemo Paul, although brilliant with the ball, seems to have gone cold with the bat and needs to step up this evening and break his run drought.
The explosive Sherfane Rutherford managed a six and a fours in his 15 on Sunday, following three matches of uncharacteristic batting for a renowned T20 specialist with a career strike-rate of close to 140.
The Warriors should look to break up the current union between Brandon King and Chandrapaul Hemraj as both players have been looking dangerous but have failed to lay a solid platform for Hetmyer and the middle-order.
Another failed attempt by the openers to post a significant opening stand or a decent score this evening should definitely result in Hetmyer having the chance to open with either Hemraj or King; which will take the pressure off of any of the two, seeing Hetmyer is the in-form batsman in the team who has been batting with no pressure despite the early collapses at the top.
Rovman Powell was inches from beating the Warriors when they last met, but some classy bowling by the Guyana franchise managed to keep the Tallawahs at bay; even though they strangely ended with wickets in hands and a batsman unbeaten on a half-century.
That batsman was ‘Dre Russ’ Andre Russell, who’s new moniker of being ‘Dange-Russ’ was realized after he clobbered 5 sixes and 4 fours in 52 not out off 37 balls; putting the hard-hitting all-rounder at the 9th spot with 93 runs to date from three games played.
Russell is not the only batsman who enters this match with their adrenaline pumping. Opener and 4th leading on the run chart with 102 runs, Glenn Phillips, will be keen on making amends for the duck against the Warriors which he fell for the last time.
Both teams learned much from each other; the Tallawahs opted not to play Veerasammy Permaul against his countrymen and old franchise, strangely too after he was fresh off of grabbing two wickets the previous game. If Permaul does play, he will add support to Mujeeb Ur Rahman who destroyed the Warriors with 3-18.
Nepalese leggy, the 20-year-old Sandeep Lamichhane was also magical, ending with 2-8 from his 4 overs and will work nicely in tandem with Mujeeb. Oshane Thomas and the veteran Fidel Edwards were quick but wicket-less and could easily blow the Warriors away tonight, should they hit their straps. Carlos Brathwaite continues to be the dark horse with the ball, but his 3 wickets from the last game will be at the back of the Warriors’ mind.
If skipper Chris Green can keep his current form and Imran Tahir also playing his senior role as one of the Warriors strike bowlers along with Paul, things might go in favour of the local franchise tonight.
Action at the Queen’s Park Oval is expected to bowl from 10:00hrs with the Pride/Patriots clash, followed by the highly-anticipated rematch under lights between Warriors and the Tallawahs at 17.30 hrs.
