Amazon Warriors training camp commences on June 20

Hero Caribbean Premier League 2016

By Akeem Greene

The Guyana Amazon Warriors pre-tournament training camp for this year’s Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will commence on June 20 with the international and regional signings are expected to be in attendance. This is according to Manager Omar Khan who made the disclosure while speaking to members of the media at the new ticketing office at Camp and Quamina Streets.

Pakistani all-rounder Sohail Tanvir , Australian Chris Lynn, West Indies T20 star Dwayne Smith are some of the high profiles to grace the preparatory camp.

International stars Martin Guptill and Adam Zampa are the only two players who will miss the camp due to pre-tournament commitments.

The New Zealander Guptill, who succeeded Denesh Ramdin as the Warriors’ Captain, is in England participating in the NatWest T20 Blast for county side Lancashire.

The dashing right-handed opener who has been in sublime for in past months will play six group games for the county side after which he will leave after the team’s final home match on June 24 to join the Amazon Warriors.

On the other hand, the unavailability of the Australian leg-spinner Zampa, is due to his commitments for country in the ongoing Ballr Cup Tri-Nation Series involving the West Indies and South Africa; the series is slated to finish on June 26 in Barbados.

During the camp, practice matches against a local representative team will be played and the Manager also revealed that West Indies Under-19 players Keemo Paul, Tevin Imlach along with Akshaya Persaud will be a part of the training regime in keeping with the Warriors developmental programme.

In April, the management Warriors began preparations in earnest with an interactive session comprising of all the locally based players.

The session was geared to have the local based players interact with each other, field questions and seek clarifications ahead of CPL 2016.

After the indoor session, the players took to the National Stadium for their first physical workout ahead of the impending season.

The Warriors will be in search of their first title win this year after coming up short in two finals, one against the Jamaica Tallawahs in the first edition and then against the Barbados Tridents in the second year.

Last year they had a spirited run, reaching the play-offs which they lost to Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel (now Trinbago Knight Riders) by six wickets.

The first home match for the Warriors will be on July 7 against the Jamaica Tallawahs, followed by a match against the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots on July 9.

They will then battle the Trinbago Knight Riders on June 10 followed by a clash against St. Lucia Zouks on July 12.

However, the Warriors will in action before playing on home turf as they open their campaign on June 30 at Warner Park, St. Kitts against the Patriots from 20:00hrs.

The Guyana Amazon Warriors squad reads: Dwayne Smith, Rayad Emrit, Veerasammy Permaul, Orlando Peters, Assad Fudadin, Anthony Bramble, Paul Wintz, Steven Jacobs, Steven Katwaroo, Ali Khan, Jason Mohammed, Christopher Barnwell, Shimron Hetmyer, Chris Lynn, Sohail Tanvir, Martin Guptill and Adam Zampa. ([email protected])