Hero CPL 2021: Confident Griffith says it’s “all about the challenges”

By Jemima Holmes

It’s the “business end of the tournament”, as the commentary team would say, and beginning today, everything is at stake as local franchise Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) hope to go all the way in this year’s edition of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
The Warriors are currently seated in fourth position on the six- team points table, but it is by no means a comfortable seat, given the unpredictability of the Twenty-20 format.

With more than half of the preliminary games done and dusted, there is a lot of work for the Guyana Amazon Warriors to do, should they wish to maintain a place in the top four.
According to ‘Lead Coach” Rayon Griffith, the Warriors are contented and looking to build momentum with four more preliminary games to go. However, the Guyanese Coach is grateful for the challenges the Warriors have endured thus far, noting that they are necessary in order to do well.
“It’s all about challenges, it’s challenges and you want challenges because sometimes you might have it smooth playing and you get all the points and could then lose your way. We don’t want to lose our way, we’re going to fight and we know we’re going to take it one game at a time as this tournament goes forward,” the Coach said candidly on Monday, during the weekly media engagement.

He added in praise of the team, “We’ve played some good cricket, we bring some good exciting cricket in this CPL if you look at all of our games. So, we have been playing good cricket, but we didn’t bring our best cricket as yet, so we’re just waiting for that right time to peak and to keep moving.”
“And as I said, we just want to gain points and then we will deal with the last four; when the last four teams qualify, then we’ll take it step by step.”
As the engagement winded on, Griffith was questioned about his thoughts on the Warriors’ performance so far, and answered that “it has been going good”, but there are improvements to be made.
“Well, at the moment, everything is going good in the camp, I think the players’ confidence is building. After we got three wins, we lost three, but having some wins, having those points is very important at this time in this competition.”
Griffith went on to highlight, “Well, the areas to improve definitely is to understand the situation and play the situation. Sometimes we don’t play the situation, but we are getting better. [Chandrapaul] Hemraj and [Brandon] King from the last game were impressive, in terms of getting the opening stance, I think that’s an area we improved also.”

Backing Brandon & Selecting Sinclair
Two of the focal points of the Guyana Amazon Warriors’ set-up this year is the fluctuation of Brandon King’s form and Kevin Sinclair’s extended time on the bench.
The Warriors’ last match against the Barbados Royals on Saturday did much to quell the critics in this regard, as Sinclair found himself in the playing squad and King held on to notch some runs. However, this didn’t stop the topic from arising on Monday, where Griffith asserted his faith in King and in the decision making behind selecting the team.
“He’s not having the best of the tournament, but we going to back Brandon. We believe that Brandon will come. Brandon has been somebody who played for this franchise, this is his third year; we’re going to continue to back him,” the Coach said about the Jamaican batsman.
King has so far accumulated 54 runs in the ninth edition of the tournament with his highest score of 19 coming last weekend against the Royals.

Visibly unfazed, Griffith shared, “We gave him some advice, he had a net session today (Monday) in which he seems pretty good, so let’s wait and see.”
On the other hand, when addressing the topic of Sinclair’s limited outings, this was the reasoning the Guyanese Coach gave:
“Sometimes you’re playing different opposition, you have different combinations you’d like to play, so it was a bit tough for him not getting in in the first couple games, but he will get his opportunity as the tournament goes along.”
Griffith went on to disclose, “It’s a team, you’re looking to put your best XI on the park and our decision making in the first couple of games without Sinclair not playing, we believe that was our best XI.”

Batting in focus
So far, the Warriors Coach sees batting as the team’s biggest hurdle far, stressing that there is a need to assess and adapt to conditions. On a lighter note, he has been pleased with the recent showing by the batsmen, especially Chandrapaul Hemraj.
“Yeah, well it’s time now that we find that balance that we’re looking for. Some of the players have struggled in terms of the condition, the condition was a challenge, but at the end of the day, they still have to understand the conditions and adapt and make the adjustment when it comes to these conditions,” Griffith highlighted.
“The changes to the batting order – definitely we were not getting as much as we want from the top of the order, so we tweak it a bit, but what is important is some of the guys now having some runs underneath their belt, which will help them gain confidence.”

What’s next?
The Amazon Warriors are set to take on the Barbados Royals again today, from 7pm.
On this note, in spite of their loss on Saturday, the Royals are keen on making a comeback. According to Head Coach Daniel Vettori, the Bajans are looking for a win against the Warriors in order to kickstart their momentum.
“Glenn was telling us the other day that Jamaica qualified with two wins and a rainout last year, so, I don’t think it will be that quite extreme this year, but I think five wins will get it done. But five wins seem a long, long way away for us at the moment,” Vettori shared during a similar media engagement on Monday, with regard to the Royals’ dismal performance thus far.
As such, he asserted, “So, we have to concentrate on the game against Guyana tomorrow (today) and if we get that win, we can start looking ahead.”
“We’ll take the win and see where we go from there,” the Barbados Coach added.
Prior to the Warriors-Royals game today, the Trinbago Knight Riders will do battle with the Jamaica Tallawahs from 10am.