Guyana Amazon Warriors

The Guyana Amazon Warriors won the toss and chose to bat, a cautious start saw them score 66 runs in the first 10 overs, but captain Shimron Hetmyer produced tantalising innings, scoring 46 off just 21 balls, to take his side to 162-6 at the end of the innings.

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in turn lost frequent wickets throughout their chase, with the Warriors stifling them at regular intervals. However, a remarkable display of power-hitting from Dwaine Pretorius saw the side score 22 runs in the final over and earn a first win in this year’s CPL season with two balls remaining. 

Guyana Amazon Warriors were frustrated early on by some excellent bowling by Sheldon Cottrell and Duan Jansen, who claimed the early wicket of Paul Stirling. Chandrapual Hemraj played a patient innings to build a platform, scoring 43 runs, before Hetmyer displayed some attacking intent, scoring at a strike rate of 219, to take his side to 162-6.  

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots followed a similar pattern, taking a patient approach to the start of their chase after losing the valuable wicket of Evin Lewis in the second over. Andre Fletcher went on to score 41 runs for the Patriots before his dismissal but the wickets of both Dwayne Bravo and Darren Bravo in the 16th over had seemingly ended the Patriots' chances of a win, before Jansen and Pretorius combined in the final overs with a 55-run partnership to guide the side to a remarkable win. 

 This was the Patriots first win of the season, while Guyana Amazon Warriors remain winless after three games. 

The Patriots won the toss and chose to field first. Despite a bright start from the Amazon Warrior’s openers, wickets tumbled in the middle overs before a late burst from Shimron Hetmyer took his side to a substantial 178/9. 

In their chase, the Patriots once again opted to open with Chris Gayle, and he laid the platform for a successful chase, lashing the ball into the stands on numerous occasions before Evin Lewis then took over to guide his side to a crushing victory. 

The Warriors consolidated after losing Brandon King in the fourth over of their innings, with Chandrapaul Hemraj and Shoaib Malik patiently building. However, three wickets in three successive overs, including that of captain Nicholas Pooran, saw the side collapse, reaching 131-8 at one point. Spinners Jon-Russ Jaggesar and Fawad Ahmed were exceptional for the Patriots during this period. It was left to Shimron Hetmyer to salvage the innings and he did so in spectacular style, scoring 45 runs from 20 balls, including a remarkable 25 runs from the last over of the innings. 

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in turn reached their highest powerplay score of this year’s Hero CPL, Gayle, and Lewis bringing up 68-0 after the first six overs. Gayle was in destructive form, scoring 42 from 27 balls, and after he fell to youngster Kevin Sinclair, it was Lewis who took responsibility to lead the chase. Supported by captain DJ Bravo, who promoted himself to number three, Lewis blasted 77* off just 39 balls as the Patriots won with thirteen balls to spare. 

With this win, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots will now go on to meet the Saint Lucia Kings in Wednesday’s Hero CPL final, with one side set to win their maiden title. 

The Royals and Amazon Warriors finished first and second in the recently concluded league phase and will clash at Providence with the winner booking their spot in the final and the loser getting another chance in Qualifier 2 on Wednesday against the winner of the Eliminator between the St. Lucia Kings and the Jamaica Tallawahs.

The Royals have been in fine form, winning eight out of their ten matches in the league phase.

“Things have been great. Winning eight games out of ten, I think the boys have been playing some good cricket. We’re studying the game, very high-spirited and ready to go for tomorrow,” said Mayers in a pre-match press conference on Monday.

On the other hand, the Amazon Warriors had an abysmal start, winning just one of their first six matches before reeling off four straight wins after returning to Guyana.

“So far it’s been okay. The start wasn’t what we expected as a team but when we got back to Guyana, the guys spirits were much higher than I expected and they were ready to go, especially with the crowds. With the crowds here and knowing the conditions as much as we do, I think the guys are really up for the challenge. It’s just for us to continue,” Hetmyer said.

The Royals have lifted the CPL trophy on two occasions in 2014 and 2019 while the Amazon Warriors have never won it despite reaching five finals, something Hetmyer says is not on his team’s mind heading into the playoffs.

“Mentally, the guys are good. We can’t really think about what happened in the past because a lot of these guys were not here when we made it to the knockout rounds before. We just have to keep taking it one game at a time and focus as hard as we can on the game to come.”

The match will start at 9:00am Jamaican Time (10:00am ECT).

The three teams who will compete in the inaugural WCPL will be Barbados Royals, Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinbago Knight Riders.

The women’s tournament will take place during the men’s event inside the Hero CPL tournament window which this year will run from 30 August and 30 September.

The 2022 tournament will be celebrating 10 years of the Biggest Party in Sport and enters its 10th season off the back of a highly successful 2021, with over half a billion viewers tuning in for the second successive year.

“Increasing the opportunities for West Indian women and girls to get involved in cricket is one of CWI’s strategic priorities, and we are delighted that we have been able to partner with CPL to further the expansion plans that we had first unveiled in 2019 prior to the arrival of the COVID Pandemic. We are confident that all CPL women’s games will be highly competitive and will add quality entertainment to our fans in the region and around the world,” said CWI President Ricky Skerritt.

Hero CPL will be played across more countries this year, with three Caribbean countries being selected for the group stages and fourth venue being chosen for the finals. CPL anticipates that this four-venue structure could become the norm for future seasons.

“The addition of a women’s event to the CPL is something that has been an ambition for a long time and we are very pleased that it has become a reality. We would like to thank CWI for working with us to make this happen. The Women’s T10 Challenge which took place during the 2019 CPL was a huge success and we are looking forward to the next step forward,” said Hero CPL CEO Pete Russell.

“We are very pleased to confirm the dates for the 2022 tournament and with travel around the world and region becoming easier CPL will be able to visit more than one country this year, so fans can enjoy CPL in person once again,” he added.

CWI has confirmed that a window has been created in an otherwise very busy international schedule so that all selected West Indies players will be available for this year’s Men’s and Women’s CPL tournaments.

In truth, perhaps the Warriors, last season’s beaten finalist, will be relieved to not match the previous campaign's accomplishments, where they did not lose a match until the final of the competition.  On Tuesday, on the back of the sizzling 63 from Shimron Hetmyer and 33 from Ross Taylor saw the post a respectable 144 for 5 in a reduced 17 overs.

In defense of the total, the Warriors got off to a strong start.  Afghan pace sensation Naveen-ul-Haq, teamed with Green and Romario Shepherd combining to keep Knight Riders’ openers Narine and Lendl Simmons to just 9 off the first 3 overs.  The Knight Riders found their feet with Narine hitting Green over midwicket.

"It was going to be tough beating 11 wins in a row from last year. Was a tough game, and the first game in a long time, so. Given the start, losing two early wickets, I think Taylor and Hetmyer batted really well,” Green said.

“We thought 140 would be a good score. We spoke about holding that length, and when we went away from that, we got hurt. Plenty of room for improvement."

Following the disruptions caused by the threat of the coronavirus the exact date and details of the tournament are yet to be finalised, but Mohammed admits he is eager to get back on the pitch. And, he might as well if he is looking to make up for the disappointment of the previous campaign.

Representing the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, Mohammad had his poorest showing to date. Playing in five games the player got a total of 20 and averaged four. Far from his heyday in 2016 when he scored 287 runs to lead the Guyana Amazon Warriors with an average of 47.

For the upcoming edition, the player hopes to play more to what he believes is his strength in the middle of the innings. “I think I feel most comfortable batting at number four and controlling the middle overs. I feel like that is my strength in T20 cricket,” Mohammed said in a recent interview with T&T’s 7PmNews. “I like to be able to rotate the strike and build partnerships and from there to the end finish off the innings strong.”

The Patriots won the toss and opted to field first, but the decision backfired, as the Amazon Warriors made light of losing wickets at regular intervals, to post an exceptional 197 for 7. 

In reply, the Patriots struggled to get close to the Warriors total, being bundled over for 132 in 16.5 overs.

Evin Lewis played a quick-fire captain’s knock, but once he fell, no one else in the Patriots order was able to have a similar effect on the game.

The Amazon Warriors innings suffered an early blow when Sheldon Cottrell removed Chandrapaul Hemraj in the first over for a duck.

Though the Patriots lost two further wickets in the PowerPlay –Saim Ayub falling to Dominic Drakes and Azam Khan to Oshane Thomas –they kept the run-rate brisk, and were well positioned at 59 for 3, at the end of the initial six overs.

Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer maintained and, by extension, built on that momentum taking the score to 101 for 3 at the halfway stage of the innings. Hope led the way, as he raced to a half-century from a mere 26 balls.

However, the partnership was eventually broken by wrist spinner Izharulhaq Naveed, who bowled the destructive Hope for 54. That wicket was quickly followed up by the dismissal of Hetmyer for 26, as the left-hander holed out to the fielder on the deep point boundary.

Those wickets briefly took the momentum out of the innings, before Keemo Paul and Romario Shepherd not only steadied the ship, but added quick runs at the backend to help the Warriors to their imposing target.

The Patriots reply never really got going as scoreboard pressure told. 

Andre Fletcher and Joshua Da Silva fell inside the PowerPlay to leave the Patriots 37 for 2 at the end of six overs.

Lewis played a fine counter-attacking innings of 48 from 24 balls to bring the required run-rate down to something more manageable, but whatever hope they had of achieving the winning target, was short lived. 

Lewis and Sherfane Rutherford fell six balls apart to leave the Patriots at 88 for 4 after 10 overs.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, the remaining batsmen failed to put together any useful partnerships, as they came and went in quick succession.

Gudakesh Motie proved too hard to handle and, as such, finished with career best figures in a spell that included the wicket of Ambati Rayudu. 

The left-arm spinner ended with four wickets for 28, almost single-handedly gifting Amazon Warriors an opening victory, which would not only boost their confidence, but also set them up nicely for the remainder of the campaign.

Scores: Guyana Amazon Warriors 197-7 (Hope 54, Ayub 31; Thomas 3-38, Drakes 2-43) beat St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 132 (Lewis 48, Rayudu 32; Motie 4-29, Tahir 2-35) by 65 runs

The Patriots will look to bounce back when they host the Barbados Royals on Saturday.

In large part, that failure, scoring 60 off the last four overs, was down to the bowling of Naveen-ul-Haq, who bowled the penultimate over to Russell.

At the start of the 19^th over, the Tallawahs were 87-7, needing a further 32 runs from the 12 deliveries to come.

The first delivery of Naveen’s over was muscled over deep midwicket for Russell’s fourth six of the innings. The second delivery from Naveen was full outside off stump and a thick outside edge saw it rush to the third man boundary. Russell had taken 10 runs off the first two deliveries, having already taken 17 from Imran Tahir the over before that and 11 from Keemo Paul’s 17^th over.

But Naveen, apparently, is made of sterner stuff and produced four dot balls to leave the Tallawahs with 22 to get from six and Russell at the non-striker’s end.

“It was difficult to bat on that pitch. The first ball I saw was sticking and turning a lot, so I knew that if we put up 120 or thereabouts, it’s gonna be a tough chase for them,” said Naveen of the 118-run total the Warriors had just defended, the lowest in CPL history.

Speaking with CPL’s Alex Jordan, Naveen went on to explain that he was fearful of bowling that 19^th over to a man known to be among the most destructive batsmen in the world.

Naveen would end with figures of 1-22 from his four overs.

“He is quite an explosive player and everybody knows this. I am cherishing this moment. It was quite lucky that I got that over. I was happy to come at the main stage and do well for my team. I got the chance and I did well,” he said.  

The team includes five members of the Guyana Amazon Warriors who won their first title on Sunday with a nine-wicket win over the Trinbago Knight Riders at Providence.

The five Amazon Warriors are Captain Imran Tahir, batsmen Shai Hope and Saim Ayub and all rounders Dwayne Pretorius and Romario Shepherd.

Tahir was instrumental in leading the Amazon Warriors to their maiden CPL title with 18 wickets in 13 matches, only finishing behind teammate Pretorius’ 20 wickets on the leading wicket-taker chart.

Hope and Ayub finished first and second in the leading run-scorer list with 481 and 478 runs, respectively.

The full team is as follows: 

Saim Ayub (Guyana Amazon Warriors) 

Brandon King (Jamaica Tallawahs) 

Shai Hope (Guyana Amazon Warriors)

Nicholas Pooran (Trinbago Knight Riders)

Kieron Pollard (Trinbago Knight Riders)

Imad Wasim (Jamaica Tallawahs)

Romario Shepherd (Guyana Amazon Warriors)

Jason Holder (Barbados Royals)

Alzarri Joseph (Saint Lucia Kings) 

Dwaine Pretorius (Guyana Amazon Warriors)

Imran Tahir (Guyana Amazon Warriors)  

Pete Russell, Republic Bank CPL’s CEO, said: “It has been another fantastic year of CPL cricket, and we would like to thank the players, franchise staff, fans in the ground and viewers around the world for supporting our tournament again this year. We would like to offer our congratulations to the players who have been selected for the Team of the Tournament who have made this another memorable year.” 

The Patriots secured a three-wicket victory over the Kings, condemning them to their second straight loss.

Batting first after being put in by the Patriots, the Kings struggled mightily, being bowled out for 66 in 8.4 overs. Johnson Charles provided some spark to the innings with 28 against an excellent spell from left-arm spinner Jaden Carmichael who took 2-6 from his two overs.

The hosts then needed just six overs to reach their target, finishing 72-3. Sherfane Rutherford ended the game with four consecutive sixes to finish 24 not out off just five balls while captain Evin Lewis earlier contributed 22.

In the second encounter, the Knight Riders secured a 47-run victory over the Guyana Amazon Warriors.

The Knight Riders overcame a tricky first half of their innings which saw them struggle to get on top of the Warriors bowling to eventually score 95-4 from their 10 overs after losing the toss. Tion Webster (27) and Terrance Hinds (23) were the main contributors for the Knight Riders while Odean Smith shone with the ball with 2-11 from his two overs.

The Warriors, in reply, were then put in a stranglehold by an excellent TKR bowling performance. Hitting only four fours and, remarkably, no sixes, the Warriors were restricted 48 all out off just 8.1 overs with South African Heinrich Klaasen getting 25 not out.

Captain Ravi Rampaul was the pick of the bowlers with 2-6 from his two overs while Jayden Seales was also impressive, finishing with 2-10 from his two overs.

The Jamaica Tallawahs will tackle the Barbados Royals while Guyana Amazon Warriors Women will play Trinbago Knight Riders Women later on Friday.

Mystery spinner Sunil Narine played a starring role with a fiery 50 from 28 balls and miserly 2 wickets for 19 runs in a four-wicket win for the T&T-based franchise.  On the back of an unbeaten 63 from just 44 balls from Amazon Warriors batsman Shimon Hetmyer, the Guyana franchise put 144 runs on the board.

Though by no means an intimidating total, the Knight Riders did not have a smooth run chase.  The bowling of Warriors captain Chris Green and Romario Shepherd kept the Knight Riders’ Narine and Lendl Simmons to just 9 off the first 3 overs.  Simmons, in particular looked out of sorts, missing four of Shepherd's slower balls in a row.  But then, Narine got cracking with a series of searing sixes to the Warriors on the back foot and pull the Knight Riders back into the game.

"Any competition, you want to start well. A little scratchy and scrappy but good to get over the line,” Pollard said following the game.

“We needed to play a good game of cricket and it was a good game of cricket. Points on the board at the start,” he added.

The Amazon Warriors won the toss and elected to bat first and captain Nicholas Pooran led the way with a brutal 75 not out to set the Tallawahs 170 to win.

In reply, the Tallawahs succumbed to a heavy defeat as Odean Smith and Gudakesh Motie combined to bowl the Amazon Warriors to victory.

Guyana got their innings off to a steady start amassing 46 runs in the PowerPlay but they had to contend with the loss of Brandon King and Chandrapaul Hemraj in doing so.

Despite Shimron Hetmyer then running himself out, Nicholas Pooran and Shoaib Malik put together a partnership of 54 runs from 33 balls to place Guyana in a strong position with six overs to go.

Pooran then took on the responsibility of getting his side into a good position and his pyrotechnics at the back end of the innings ensured Guyana Amazon Warriors posted a very competitive 169/6.

The Tallawahs were able to keep pace with the required run rate in the early stages of their reply as Haider Ali and Kirk Mckenzie overcame the loss of Kennar Lewis to put on a 41-run partnership.

Odean Smith’s entry into the attack proved pivotal as his two wickets in two balls swung the pendulum back in Guyana’s favour and he wasn’t done there as he also got rid of Andre Russell in a wonderful wicket maiden over.

Alongside Smith, Gudakesh Motie spun a web as his three wickets helped ensure there was no chance of an unlikely win for the Tallawahs.

The victory for the Amazon Warriors means the Tallawahs will now have to win the return game to make the semi-finals. 

Amazon Warriors’ captain Chris Green won the toss and chose to field, and bowled Kieran Powell sixth ball of the match. Kevin Sinclair got the second over on his senior T20 debut and went for just a single. While Evin Lewis took Green for 10 off two balls, he chopped on to become Sinclair’s first career T20 wicket.

Ben Dunk started with an edged four off Green, and Joshua da Silva was busy at the crease. But three singles were all the two could manage as Sinclair bowled a third in a row, and after the Powerplay, the Patriots were 33/2.
Imran Tahir nearly had Da Silva stumped, but a swept four by Dunk saw the over go for 8. Sinclair bowled out in one go, and with 17 dots and no boundaries, it was a fine first T20 spell. Tahir’s second went for just three, and Dunk lost patience against Green and was bowled to leave the Patriots 51/3 at the drinks break.

Ashmead Nedd came on, and off the 25th ball, he had faced Da Silva finally found the boundary. Da Silva found the fence off Nedd again, and when Keemo Paul came on to break a run of 13 straight overs of spin the Patriots were 69/3.

Da Silva attacked Paul, hitting his first-two career T20 sixes, the first a loft over the bowler’s head and the second a pull into the stands. He continued to hit powerfully down the ground, although Nedd dropped a sharp caught-and-bowled chance, and Ramdin joined in with a Hero Maximum over midwicket.

Da Silva drove Tahir, who for once went wicketless, over cover, and off Naveen’s first ball brought up his first T20 half-century off 42 balls. He used Naveen’s pace to close the 17th over with back to back fours, and with three overs left the Patriots had moved to 118/3. Romario Shepherd though broke the stand, bowling the impressive Da Silva with an excellent yorker.

Ramdin improvised to hit Paul for six, but Sohail Tanvir was caught napping and Paul ran him out. Shepherd started and ended the 20th with good yorkers, but in between Nedd didn’t even get a hand on a swirling Ramdin top edge and the Patriots keeper smashed a Hero Maximum to get the Patriots to their highest score of Hero CPL 2020.

Brandon King edged an Alzarri Joseph yorker past the stumps for four but was fully in control of a cover drive in the same over. King’s latest opening partner, Sinclair, was scratchy; he was dropped off by Tanvir off his own bowling and was lucky to survive a maiden from Imran Khan, That put pressure on King who skied a Joseph bouncer to give Ramdin a simple catch.

Sinclair’s dismissal followed soon after, chipping softly back to the bowler Jon-Russ Jaggesar, who followed up with the wicket of Shimron Hetmyer who top-edged a cut to Ramdin. After the Powerplay, the Amazon Warriors were 26/3 and in need of a partnership between Pooran and Taylor. They got one, and how.

Pooran hit two Hero Maximums over Jaggesar’s head and Taylor pulled a third hard and flat off Emrit, but at halfway the Amazon Warriors still needed over nine an over. Pooran sensed the urgency, hammering Imran for four then six over the off-side and closing with an enormous six over midwicket to take 18 off the 11th.

Pooran didn’t relent, dismissing Jaggesar over long-off and slicing Joseph behind square to bring up 50 off just 25 balls. Another four made it 12 off the over, and the Amazon Warriors had surged to 99/3 off 13 and the rate had fallen to under seven-and-a-half.

Ish Sodhi did well to only go for six off his first over, including two byes, and Emrit also went boundary-less. But Pooran made the equation far easier with a slog-sweep clean over the fence, his sixth Hero Maximum, as Sodhi’s second over went for 11.

Emrit called for Tanvir, but Pooran launched him over his head for a Hero Maximum to bring up the first hundred partnership by any team in Hero CPL 2020 and followed up with a fierce pull for four to leave the Amazon Warriors needing 16 off the last 18 balls.

Fittingly, Pooran sealed the victory with 15 balls to spare and reached his century by hammering three sixes in a row off Sodhi. The Patriots’ batting showed promise, but it looks a struggle now for them to make the semi-finals.

 (Guyana Amazon Warriors 153/3 (Pooran 100*, Taylor 25*, King 14; Jaggesar 2/33, Joseph 1/24) beat St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 150/5 (da Silva 59, Ramdin 37*, Dunk 19; Green 2/31, Sinclair 1/9, Shepherd 1/13) by 7 wickets)

Upcoming Fixture: Tuesday 1 September - Match 21: Jamaica Tallawahs v Trinbago Knight Riders (10am), Brian Lara Cricket Academy

After bowling out the Warriors in 19.1 overs, the Tallawahs were pegged back by the combination of brilliant bowling from the Warriors and their own failure to adjust to a pitch where the ball was sticking.

“We knew the wicket was quite tough to bat on. We felt we were 10-15 short but we have a special bowling line-up,” said Warriors captain Chris Green.

That 10-15 runs short never mattered as an all-round bowling performance where Green ended with 2-10 from three overs, Imran Tahir, 1-26, Ashmead Nedd, 1-10, Naveen-ul-Haq, 1-22, Keemo Paul, 1-33, and Chandrapaul Hemraj, 1-3 from one over, were enough to restrict the Tallawahs to 107-7.

“I am very, very disappointed but that's the nature of the game,” said Powell.

“I think both teams batted poorly, and we really need to improve our batting,” he said.

 “The positive was Russell coming to the party.”

Though disappointed, Powell was pleased to see the work of his spinners, saying he was impressed.

“Impressed with Mujeeb [Ur Rahmann] and Sandeep [Lamichhane],” he said. The two ended with figures of 3-18 and 2-8 respectively.

The Tallawahs won the toss and decided to bowl first, restricting the Amazon Warriors to 142-6 from their 20 overs.

On a difficult pitch for batting, the Warriors endured a slow start to their innings, only mustering 71-3 by time the 15^th over was ready to be bowled.

They overcame that slow start thanks to crucial middle-order knocks from Shai Hope (25), captain Shimron Hetmyer (39), Romario Shepherd (36) and Heinrich Klaasen (22). Pakistani pacer Mohammad Amir took 3-22 from his four overs while South African Migael Pretorious took 2-35 from his four for the Tallawahs.

Captain Rovman Powell then played a masterful knock to help the Tallawahs achieve their target and get their second win of the season.

At one point, Powell had faced 12 balls for just three runs but ended up scoring 44 not out off 38 including just one four and four sixes, three of which came within the last two overs.

Brandon King also contributed 32 as the Tallawahs finished 143-6 off 19.2 overs.

In a match that swung one way and then the other throughout it was the last gasp batting effort of the South African all-rounder who secured the win.

It was the second night in a row where the game was won off the final delivery of the match with the Falcons on the losing side both times. The Falcons had recovered from a stuttering batting display in the face of strong bowling from Gudakesh Motie to post a competitive total of 168/6.

The Warriors also struggled to maintain batting consistency throughout their innings and it looked as if the game was heading towards a Falcons’ win when the target was 47 runs from 18 balls, but a nerveless batting display from Pretorius and the Warriors tail took them to a three-wicket win.

Having won the toss, the Amazon Warriors chose to bowl first and they claimed an early breakthrough when Teddy Bishop was run out by a fine piece of fielding from Shai Hope to leave them 10/1 at the end of the second over.

After a relatively slow opening two overs and the loss of one of their openers there was a need of a rebuild, and that is what they got thanks to a 73-run stand between Fakhar Zaman and Kofi James that took the rate to close to 10 an over.

James’ wicket was the start of a Falcons collapse that saw them lose four wickets for the addition of just 29 runs. Motie was the destroyer in chief as he bowled Sam Billings with a clever delivery that beat the England batter when he advanced down the pitch. He also had Jewel Andrew caught at deep mid-wicket by Shimron Hetmyer when the 17-year-old batter tried to hit back-to-back sixes.

From there it was about Imad Wasim who played a brilliant counter attacking knock that brought the Falcons right back into this match after a middle order stumble. The Pakistani all-rounder scored 40 from 21 balls to propel the Falcons to a total that they could look to defend.

The Amazon Warriors opted to promote Motie up the order to open and he scored a six in the first over but was bowled for 6 from four balls. Gurbaz also went inside the powerplay when he was dismissed by a juggling catch by Shamar Springer at midwicket.

The Falcons spinners did a good job at tying down the Warriors once the fielding restrictions loosened as the rate began to climb. Shimron Hetmyer looked to steady things for the Warriors and build a platform but he was bowled by Imad. When Azam Khan hit his stumps with his bat after a vicious Springer bouncer the Warriors had stumbled to 77/4.

Shai Hope was still in the middle, and last year’s Player of the Tournament was looking dangerous in the death overs but he was bowled for 41 and it appeared that the game was gone for the Warriors with the required rate at more than 15 an over.

That was before Pretorius took 18 runs from the final six balls as the Warriors started the defense of their title in the most dramatic way possible.

Kyle Mayers was the first pick of the draft, joining the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots. He will be joined at the Patriots by Mikyle Louis, Ryan John and Veerasammy Permaul. 

The Saint Lucia Kings welcome USA international Aaron Jones who qualifies to play at the CPL as a local player as he has a Barbados passport. The Kings have also selected Khari Campbell, Johann Jeremiah, Mikkel Govia and Akeem Auguste. 

The Barbados Royals have picked Kadeem Alleyne, Isai Thorne and Nathan Sealy to complete their squad while the Guyana Amazon Warriors have selected all-rounders Raymon Reifer and Ronaldo Alimohamed. Matthew Nandu also rejoins the Warriors having been selected in the draft. 

The Antigua & Barbuda Falcons picked five players at the draft with Roshon Primus, Justin Greaves, Jahmar Hamilton, Teddy Bishop and Kofi James joining the newest CPL team. The Trinbago Knight Riders selected Nathan Edward and Shaquere Parris in their emerging player spots.

The 2024 season gets underway on the 29 August with the Antigua & Barbuda Falcons taking on the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium. The tournament will also visit St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana. 

The full squads are as follows:

Barbados Royals: Rovman Powell, Jason Holder, David Miller, Quinton De Kock, Maheesh Theekshana, Alick Athanaze, Naveen-ul-Haq, Obed McCoy, Kevin Wickham, Keshav Maharaj, Kadeem Alleyne, Rahkeem Cornwall, Isai Thorne, Nathan Sealy, Nyeem Young, Rivaldo Clarke, Ramon Simmonds

Guyana Amazon Warriors: Imran Tahir, Shimron Hetmyer, Saim Ayub, Shai Hope, Romario Shepherd, Azam Khan, Gudakesh Motie, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Keemo Paul, Dwaine Pretorius, Kevin Sinclair, Raymon Reifer, Ronaldo Alimohamed, Shamar Joseph, Kevlon Anderson, Matthew Nandu, Junior Sinclair

Antigua & Barbuda Falcons: Imad Wasim, Brandon King, Fabian Allen, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Amir, Chris Green, Fakhar Zaman, Roshon Primus, Justin Greaves, Hayden Walsh, Jahmar Hamilton, Teddy Bishop, Kofi James, Shamar Springer, Kelvin Pitman, Jewel Andrew, Joshua James

St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots: Kyle Mayers, Wanindu Hasaranga, Rilee Rossouw, Sherfane Rutherford, Evin Lewis, Sikandar Raza, Nuwan Thushara, Andre Fletcher, Tristan Stubbs, Dominic Drakes, Odean Smith, Mikyle Louis, Joshua Da Silva, Veerasammy Permaul, Ryan John, Ashmead Nedd, Johann Layne

Saint Lucia Kings: Heinrich Klaasen, Faf Du Plessis, Alzarri Joseph, Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Noor Ahmad, David Wiese, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Matthew Forde, Aaron Jones, Khary Pierre, Khari Campbell, Johann Jeremiah, Shadrack Descarte, Mikkel Govia, McKenny Clarke, Akeem Auguste

Trinbago Knight Riders: Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Nicholas Pooran, Tim David, Akeal Hosein, Jason Roy, Dwayne Bravo, Josh Little, Waqar Salamkheil, Jayden Seales, Ali Khan, Mark Deyal, Keacy Carty, Terrence Hinds, Nathan Edward, Shaquere Parris

 Batting first, the Warrior put up 146 for 8 in their 20 overs, but in pursuit, the Patriots, who were anchored by a stunning opening stand of 113 between Lewis and Thomas, only lost two wickets to secure an easy second win.

The Warriors won the toss and elected to bat, but they struggled to get their innings underway in the face of some tidy bowling from the Patriots. Dominic Drakes was the star but there were excellent spells inside the PowerPlay from Sheldon Cottrell and Paul van Meekeren.

It was Cottrell who got the first breakthrough when he had Brandon King caught by Sherfane Rutherford off a leading edge. The Warriors once again pushed Odean Smith up the order as a pinch hitter but he didn’t have the same success as in the first game against the Knight Riders, falling for a seven-ball duck.

  Wickets continued to fall throughout the Warriors innings, and they found themselves 75 for 5 in the 12th over with Drakes finishing with 3 for 26 and Fawad Ahmed claiming 2 for 33.

However, some lusty blows from Nicholas Pooran and a measured innings from Mohammad Hafeez got them to a respectable total. 

In pursuit, Thomas and Lewis were in fine form, and they made the Guyana total look under par as they batted with controlled aggression to put the Patriots in complete control of the chase.

There were few stumbles for the Patriots as Evin Lewis top-scored with 62 from 39 balls, an innings that guided his team to an eight-wicket victory with eight balls to spare.

Guyana Amazon Warriors confirmed their place in the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) semi-finals with a second consecutive win over the Jamaica Tallawahs.

Just like the previous encounter between the two sides the Amazon Warriors won the toss and elected to bat first, and although they found themselves in a perilous position at 75/7 – a blistering Romario Shepherd 72 not out ensured they set a target the Tallawahs never looked likely to chase.

In reply, the Tallawahs once again succumbed as their innings never got going amidst a cluster of regular wickets. Only late hitting from Chris Green prevented them from falling to a heavy defeat.

 Guyana got their innings off to a slow start as Imad Wasim and Green made early inroads to leave the Amazon Warriors teetering on 36-3.

 It was to go from bad to worse when the set Chandrapaul Hemraj holed out in the deep before Shamarh Brooks took a fantastic running catch to remove the dangerous Nicholas Pooran for 9.

 Wasim then struck twice in his final over to leave the Amazon Warriors at risk of not making 100.

 However, Shepherd’s power-hitting counterattack took the Amazon Warriors to a very healthy 142/7 to pile all the pressure back on the Tallawahs.

 The Tallawahs reply got off to a poor start when they lost the clean hitting Kennar Lewis and Kirk Mckenzie to a double-wicket maiden over from Imran Tahir.

 With the run rate rising Chadwick Walton offered brief respite with some boundary hitting before Hemraj got him to hole out to in the deep.

 Wickets continued to fall as Smith and Shepherd got in on the act and at 42/6 the Tallawahs were left to rely on Carlos Brathwaite and Andre Russell to pull off an unlikely victory.

 Some late heroics from Green gave them some hope but they ultimately fell to defeat and exited the tournament.

Scores: Guyana Amazon Warriors 142-7 (Shepherd 72*, Hemraj 21; Wasim 3-15, Green 2-19) beat Jamaica Tallawahs 128 (Green 31, Walton 20; Smith 3-20, Shepherd 3-31) by 14 runs

Guyana Amazon Warriors won the toss and opted to put Saint Lucia Kings in to bat, Chase lighting up the innings with 85 runs to take his side to 149/7.

The Warriors faltered in their chase, bowled out for 98 despite the best efforts of captain Pooran, as the Saint Lucia Kings put in a clinical bowling performance.

Saint Lucia Kings lost the big early wickets of Andre Fletcher and Faf du Plessis before Chase came in and raced to his half-century from just 27 balls. He was supported by Mark Deyal and then Tim David before a flurry of late wickets restricted the team’s total, as Guyana Amazon Warriors utilised eight different bowlers across the innings. Romario Shepherd and Odean Smith were the pick of the bowlers, as they both took three wickets each with economy rates under six.

Amazon Warrior’s response was stifled from the beginning, losing four wickets in the Powerplay overs as Alzarri Joseph and Obed McCoy caused havoc with their pace. A blistering knock from Pooran, 41 from 26 balls, was not enough, even with Odean Smith blasting four sixes towards the end of the innings. Jeavor Royal and Kesrick Williams were superb as the innings progressed and continually picked up wickets.

Saint Lucia Kings now have four points and are firmly in contention for a playoff spot as the tournament league stage nears the halfway mark.

Saint Lucia Kings 149-7 (Chase 85, Deyal 20; Shepherd 3-21, Smith 3-22) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 98 all out (Pooran 41, Smith 31*; Royal 3-19, Williams 2-7) by 51 runs.