Dear Editor,
The 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (RBLCPL) is now climaxing in Guyana, and defending champions Guyana Amazon Warriors are certainly on a high. In their last match, played on Wednesday night at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, the home team humiliated the Barbados Royals, whom they completely outplayed with ball and bat.
The “Royals” won the toss, and asked the “Warriors” to take first strike; and the Warriors hammered the Royals’ bowling to all parts of the ground as they accumulated a winning 219 runs off their allotted 20 overs.
As international players, the opening batsmen gave the home team a brisk start. Rahmanullah Gurbaz opened the batting with crowd attraction Azam Khan, and they ensured the scoreboard kept ticking over. However, the team’s most respected and exciting batsmen, Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope, put on a dashing, solid century partnership. The batting of these two “Warriors” was indeed exciting, and their ability to rotate the strike and hit the ball out of the boundary was most entertaining.
Meanwhile, Romario Shepherd continues to be the hitman in the tournament.
Replying to the Warriors’ score, the Royals visibly suffered heavily from scoreboard pressure, as they struggled and perished in their attempt to attain the Warriors’ imposing score. The spinners Gudakesh Motie, Moeen Ali and the skipper Imran Tahir were always threatening and too good for the opposition batsmen. Only the hard-hitting David Miller proved to be a force to be reckoned with, as he hit out desperately at the end, all by himself.
All roads lead to the Guyana National Stadium at Providence this weekend, where on Saturday the Warriors take on St Lucía Kings, and on Sunday the Trinbago Knight Riders. These two matches will be exciting, as all four teams are already in the “Four” teams’ playoff.
The mammoth and vociferous crowd would be rallying behind their home team as CPL fever grips the nation. Expectations are sky high that the tremendous batting form of Hetmyer, Hope and Shepherd would be better than that of Pooran and de Cock.
Planning and execution of CPL 2024 has surpassed that of previous years, and has resulted in generation of greater interest among the cricketing family around the world. Our players in this year’s tournament are setting records and marketing themselves for “franchises” worldwide. Guyana is glowing, as the carnival atmosphere, the “people participation”, and the efficient running of the tournament have produced thrills of the highest quality.
Let’s rally behind the Amazon Warriors!
Sincerely,
Neil Kumar
