Powell, Smith predict challenging encounter

Hero Caribbean Premier League…

The fourth edition of the Hero Caribbean Premier League is now into its knockout stage so starting on Wednesday in St Kitts & Nevis the four teams that have reached the playoffs will commence their penultimate quest of becoming the 2016 Champions. The first match features top of the league Guyana Amazon Warriors against Jamaica Tallawahs on Wednesday night (7pm) for a spot in Sunday’s finals.

The winner will go straight to the finals while the loser will get a second chance to qualify with another match against winner of playoff two which involves St. Lucia Zouks and Trinbago Knight Riders.

The Warriors and Tallawahs clashes have always been very competitive over the years and no different is expected on Wednesday when the two teams meet for the tenth time in CPL’s history. Prior to Wednesday’s match the Warriors have been the more dominant of the two teams with five win in the nine matches to date. In this year’s event both teams have managed a win each, playing the other. However, it is Guyana that has played the most consistent cricket. In doing so they have qualified for the playoffs at the top of the table after winning seven of their 10 matches.

Meanwhile the Tallawahs on the other hand is doing a good job so far and much will be expected come this Wednesday.

According to CPL the Following is what two players from the opposing teams had to say about the upcoming match.

Rovman Powell of the Jamaica Tallawahs, a breakout star of this Hero CPL, says they want a win to get themselves one step closer to the franchise’s second title.

“We really want to go to St Kitts and get the final place secured. Fort Lauderdale hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for us over the last few days but there are a lot of positives we can take from those games looking forward to the finals,” said Powell.

Back-to-back losses to the St Lucia Zouks in the Florida leg will have dented the Tallawahs’ confidence somewhat and Powell admits they need to find a way to come back strong.

“It is not really a clean slate, Guyana Amazon Warriors are a good team, it is important for us to come back and get our act together. We have got the next few days to get our plans right for the finals.”

Speaking of the opposition Powell says he is aware of the star men in the Amazon Warriors side but that they need to plan for playing the whole squad, not just the big names.

“They have Jason Mohammad who has been batting well and Chris Lynn as an overseas player, but we are not just focusing on two players we are focusing on all 14 or 15 players. It is T20, anyone can turn up and produce a match winning performance. It is just us focusing on our game plan and not thinking about them too much.”

Dwayne Smith of the Amazon Warriors says that his side is brimming with confidence having lost just three matches this season to finish top of the Hero CPL table.

“I think the guys are going to be very upbeat. This is what we wanted to do, to end in the top two, and that is what we just did. It is just to go out there now in St Kitts and perform as best we can. Even when we lost games this season the guys were still upbeat. It is one family here which is good and I hope we can carry on the performances and take it to the knockouts.”

Smith says that moving from playing in Florida to Warner Park in St Kitts will not present a problem for his side and he doesn’t feel the other teams will struggle to make the transition either.

“I don’t think it will be a challenge [to adapt to conditions], everyone knows how the pitch plays in St Kitts already so it is going to be good games, it is going to be tough but I am sure that we can come out on top.”

The Amazon Warriors lost their captain Martin Guptill to New Zealand duty halfway through the season but the absence of their leader and star opening batsman did not unduly affect them. Smith credits the excellent team spirit the Amazon Warriors have created for this.

“From the time that I went to join the team in the camp before the tournament I could see the camaraderie in the team and to see that where you have people coming from all over the Caribbean and all over the world it is good to see that we were together as one so quick. I knew from that time that we were going to be one of the teams contending for the championship. Any T20 game is a competitive game so once we continue to be consistent with our performances we can continue to come out on top.”

Guyana Amazon Warriors: -Rayad Emrit (captain), Sohail Tanvir, Dwayne Smith, Chris Lynn, Nick Maddison, Adam Zampa, Jason Mohamed, Christopher Barnwell, Veerasammy Permaul, Orlando Peters, Assad Fudadin, Shimron Hetmyer, Anthony Bramble, Paul Wintz, Steven Jacobs, Steven Katwaroo, Muhammad Ahsan Ali Khan.

Jamaica Tallawahs-Chris Gayle: (captain), Shakib Al Hasan, Andre Russell, Kumar Sangakkara, Imad Wasim, Dale Patterson, Rovman Powell, Chadwick Walton, Jon-Russ Jaggesar, Andre McCarthy, Jonathan Foo, Alex Ross, Keswick Williams, Nkrumah Bonner, Garey Mathurin, Timroy Allen and Oshane Thomas.