NICHOLAS Pooran has been named the new captain of Guyana Amazon Warriors ahead of the CPL 2021 season.
The dashing ‘keeper-batsman will take over the reins from Chris Green, who has been released by the franchise.
Along with Pooran, Warriors have retained a total of 11 players from last year’s squad including the likes of Shimron Hetmyer, Brandon King, Imran Tahir and Naveen Ul Haq.
The big name missing is Mujeeb ur Rahman – the leading wicket-taker in 2020 with 16 wickets has been ignored.
Meanwhile, Andre Russell, who had a bittersweet relationship with Tallawahs last year where he even indicated about leaving the team at the end of the tournament, will surprisingly stay with Jamaica along with fellow local stars – Carlos Brathwaite, Rovman Powell, Chadwick Walton, Fidel Edwards and promising youngster in Ryan Persaud, being the seventh player to be retained by the franchise.
Former West Indies Twenty20 captain Brathwaite, 32, who has lost his place in the international side and has not featured in nearly two years, struggled in last year’s CPL with 60 runs from nine innings while taking ten wickets with his medium pace.
However, Brathwaite flourished in the last Australian Big Bash, snaring 16 wickets from as many matches, and remains a potent player in the shortest format.
The Barbadian will be joined by West Indies superstar Russell, one of the most sought-after players in franchise cricket.
Jamaican Russell, recently recalled to the West Indies side following a protracted layoff, struck three half-centuries in the last CPL campaign to finish with an average of 44.
Tallawahs have also kept faith with 39-year-old fast bowler Edwards, who was recalled by the West Indies earlier this year after nearly a decade out of international cricket.
Edwards picked up nine wickets for Tallawahs last season at an average of 25 and just over 7-½ runs per over.
However, there have been snubs for the Jamaican Test pair of Jermaine Blackwood and Nkrumah Bonner, with New Zealander Glenn Phillips, who was Tallawahs’ leading batsman last year with 316 runs, also not retained.
Neither Afghan off-spinner Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, who nabbed 16 wickets for Tallawahs last season nor Nepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane who snared 12 wickets, has been retained.
Rovman Powell and Chadwick Walton, both of whom endured disastrous campaigns last year, along with Guyana left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul and ICC America’s player Ryan Persaud, complete the list of retained players.
Two-time champions Barbados Tridents have retained skipper Jason Holder despite enduring a tough 2020 campaign where they lost 7 games and failed to qualify for the semis. Apart from Holder, Shai Hope, Kyle Mayers, Raymon Reifer, Justin Greaves, Nyeem Young, Joshua Bishop, Johnson Charles and Hayden Walsh Jr are the others to have been given the contract extension.
Defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders have parted ways with veteran Dwyane Bravo with the all-rounder being traded to St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. They’ve got back Denesh Ramdin in return and overall have managed to retain the majority of the team which won them the trophy last year.
Kieron Pollard will remain captain while the leading run-scorer of the previous season, Lendl Simmons, who amassed 356 runs in 11 games last season, will continue to represent the Knight Riders, in addition to other big names like Colin Munro, Sunil Narine, Darren Bravo, Sikandar Raza and Khary Pierre.
Players Retained by CPL Franchises:
St Lucia Zouks – Andre Fletcher, Kesrick Williams, Rahkeem Cornwall, Roston Chase, Obed Mccoy, Mark Deyal and Javelle Glenn.
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots – Dwyane Bravo (from TKR), Evin Lewis, Fabian Allen, Sherfane Rutherford (from GAW), Sheldon Cotrell, Rayad Emrit, Jon Russ Jaggesar, Dominic Drakes, Joshua Da Silva.
Barbados Tridents – Jason Holder, Johnson Charles, Shai Hope, Kyle Mayers, Hayden Walsh JR, Raymon Reifer, Justin Greaves, Nyeem Young, Joshua Bishop.
Guyana Amazon Warriors – Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Imran Tahir, Brendon King, Naveen Ul Haq, Romario Shephard, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Odean Smith, Anthony Bramble, Kevin Sinclair, Ashmead Nedd.
Jamaica Tallawahs – Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Rovman Powell, Fidel Edwards, Veerasammy Permaul, Ryan Persaud.
Trinbago Knight Riders – Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Darren Bravo, Colin Munro, Lendl Simmons, Sikandar Raza, Khary Pierre, Anderson Phillip, Denesh Ramdin (from St Kitts), Tion Webster, Akeal Hosein, Jayden Seales, Ali Khan. (Extracted from Trinidad Guardian)
