THIS year will be the third and last time — for now — that Guyana will host the play-offs and final of the 12th Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) t20 cricket franchise and tickets for all five of the Guyana Amazon Warriors games and the final have been reportedly sold out.
Since the inaugural tournament was staged in 2013, Guyana and Trinidad have competed for crowd size and best atmosphere at the venue.
Known as ”The biggest party in sport,” the Guyana Government has merged the cricket with several cultural and social events in a fabulous Cricket Carnival for the large influx of visitors anticipated here for the CPL. In addition, a mega concert will be held during the innings break during the final at the Providence Stadium on October 6.

The ‘Warriors,’ who won their first-ever title last year, are the defending champions and will face off with cellar dwellers St Kitts & Nevis Patriots tomorrow night from 19:00hrs.
The top four teams will qualify for the play-offs with the third and fourt- placed teams battling each other on October 1 in the eliminator, while the first and second-placed teams clash in the next Qualifier One.
On October 4, the loser of Qualifier One plays the winner of the eliminator to set up what promises to be a pulsating final

The Barbados Royals with 10 points from six matches have already qualified, with St Lucia Kings, the Warriors and Trinbago Knight Riders are also expected to qualify for the ‘final four’ as the tournament heads for its final leg in Guyana.
The Warriors’ top-order batting is their biggest concern even before a ball was bowled, when 22-year-old Pakistani opener Saim Ayub was unavailable owing to national duties. In last year’s CPL only his Warriors’ team Shai Hope had more runs than Ayub.
To compound that issue, Rahmanullah Gurbaz was forced to leave to play in the ODI series for Afghanistan after the third round, having scored 20, 60-odd and 40-odd for the Warriors at the top of the order. Gurbaz is expected to return for the game against the Royals on September 25.
Englishman Tim Robinson was hastily bought as cover for fellow Englishman Moeen Ali, who played in the last match but will stay on until the return of Gurbaz.
The Warriors have used Gudakesh Motie, Kevin Sinclair and Azam to open the batting with little success.

Speaking on Tuesday night on the Sean Devers sports Watch, Warrior’s Manager, former Test batter Leon Johnson, disclosed that Warriors have signed leg spinner Nathan Sowter as a temporary replacement for 45-year-old Skipper Imran Tahir.
The 31-year-old Sowter who was born in Australia but lives in England, has no international experience but has played in several T20 Leagues.

“Sowter arrived in Trinidad yesterday [Monday] and practised with us today [Tuesday]. It’s important to have a wrist spinner in our team which was [sic] brought us lots of success. He also bowls a good googlie.”
Tahir was diagnosed with a bicep tendon injury and would be out for another seven days. He is doing therapy and should miss about four games…it’s not very serious.” Johnson informed.
Jonhson explained that all-rounder Romario Shepherd was hit on his toe while batting in the nets in St Kitts but should be back soon.

“We always want to finish in the top two, so you have two chances of getting to the final. We hopefully have seven more games left in this year’s CPL.
“For two seasons now we have issues at the top…we have not been consistent. We have a good middle order and lower half of our batting usually rally through and get us valuable runs in the back end. It’s just about the guys being more consistent,” continued Johnson.
Jonhson said that despite the performances of the top order, asking Shimron Hetmyer to open is not an option.

“Many feel that your best batter should face the most balls but while that is true, Shimron has been in very good form lately [and] that is a plus for the team.
“Last year he batted at five and I thought that was a bit too low and this year we decided to let him bat higher in the order and give him more responsibility and [he] has done pretty well this season. He looks like someone who has got a point to prove after sitting on bench in the World Cup and in the previous series.

“Hetty is well loved in our team and is very influential as well and it is good that his confidence has returned,” the Warriors manager concluded.
In the second game Hetymer scored a magnificent 91 with 11 sixes and no fours. He now holds the t20 record for a batter scoring a half-century without hitting a four.