THE first two matches in this year’s 2023 Republic Bank /Caribbean Premier League tournament, is indeed a revelation. Further, it is clear that the batsmen are enjoying themselves on the slow pitches and poor fielding.

In the first match, Brandon King, the new captain of the Jamaica Tallawahs, benefitted from drop catches and poor fielding to score a half century, enabling his team to win their first match against the first-round host team, St. Lucia Kings.
Jamaica Tallawahs was able to score a challenging 187 off their allotted 20 overs. However, the host team wobbled at the beginning of their chase, as they were quickly reduced to 104 for five wickets.

The Kings was able to put up a useful resistance, as Chase hammered a surprising half century. Eventually the St Lucia Kings lost the match by 11 runs.
In the second match, St Lucia Kings took first strike and enjoyed a quick and solid half-century start.
Their foreign players Faf du Plessis and Sean Williams with scores of 46 and 47 respectfully enabled the home team to reach a winning total of 201 runs. Chasing a frightening total of over 200 runs, the Tallawahs were in serious trouble in the very first over when they lost two wickets.
The defending champion’s poor batting was indeed very worrying, as they were reeling on 89 for eight wickets. However, a useful piece of hitting by Nyeem Young enabled them to reach 147 runs.

It is clear that some of the players in this tournament are selected only on the basis of friends and nepotism. Rahkeem Cornwall was a total disaster in the Barbados team. The movement of the defending Captain Rovman Powell from the Jamaica Tallawahs to the Barbados Royals is intriguing.
The Royals team includes experienced players such as Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers who are former captains of the team. The quality of cricket is far below standard.
The Republic Bank /Caribbean Premier League must produce young players and provide the West Indies with players who must be vying for selection at the highest level.
The fitness of the players is most distressing. Some of them are not only overweight, but they cannot move between the wickets and their movement on the field is allowing easy second runs.

All eyes will be on our team, the Guyana Amazon Warriors. Skipper Imran Tahir is a friendly person. However, all eyes will be on the master batsman and electrifying fielder, Shimron Hetmyer.

His place in the team will be manifolds. This genuine cricketer must lead by example. He is capable of scoring runs and playing winning innings. However, he must be consistent. The Guyana team will also be looking at Shai Hope to get runs consistently.
The genuine all-rounders in the team are match winners with the bat. The bowling looks very good on paper. Dwaine Pretorius will be our strike bowler. Odean Smith, Romario Shepherd and Keemo Paul must bowl a good line and length. While Gudakesh Motie and the skipper can receive support form Kevin Sinclair. The Guyanese crowd are over anxious and waiting to rally behind the Warriors.