Warriors battle Tallawahs in must-win points’ encounter

The Jamaica Tallawahs will take on the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the 12th match of CPL 2020 on Tuesday, 25th August (today), at the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium in Tarouba, Republic of Trinidad & Tobago.
The Warriors come off a 10-run defeat to the Zouks on Sunday, while the Tallawahs were beaten by the Warriors over the weekend. In the reverse fixture, which took place on Saturday, the Warriors successfully defended a meagre total of 118 despite a blitz from the dangerous Andre Russell.
Both sides need the points, thus this will certainly be an exciting encounter.

Jamaica Tallawahs
The Jamaica Tallawahs’ batting unit let them down big time, as only three players managed to record double-digit scores in their previous match against the Warriors. Both their openers were sent packing for a duck, and they’ll look to better their performance this time around.
Nkrumah Bonner, who replaced Nicholas Kirton in the team, is likely to be given another opportunity, and Andre Russell might bat higher up the order in this CPL match.

With the ball in hand, all the Tallawahs’ bowlers except Oshane Thomas did well. Thomas, however, conceded 24 runs in the only over he bowled, and could be replaced by Veerasammy Permaul for this match. The rest of the team should remain unchanged.

Predicted Playing XI:
Chadwick Walton (WK), Glenn Philips, Nkrumah Bonner, Rovman Powell (C), Andre Russell, Asif Ali, Carlos Brathwaite, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Sandeep Lamichchane, Oshane Thomas/Veerasammy Permaul, and Fidel Edwards.

Guyana Amazon Warriors
The Guyana Amazon Warriors’ batting unit has returned some fine performances this season, but hasn’t been able to do so in unison. Brandon King and Chandrapaul Hemraj had another bad game in their previous match, while Hetmyer was dismissed early.
Nicholas Pooran, however, kept the team in the game with his 49-ball 68, but it proved insufficient in the end.
Despite repeated failures, the Warriors are likely to persist with the top order.
They also gave a good account of themselves with the ball. The spinners, led by Imran Tahir, were very effective, as was pacer Odean Smith, who replaced the rested Naveen ul Haq in the side. It’ll be a toss-up between these two players for a spot in the playing XI.

Predicted Playing XI:
Brandon King, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Shimron Hetmyer, Ross Taylor, Nicholas Pooran (wkpr), Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul, Chris Green (C), Ashmead Nedd, Odean Smith/ Naveen-ul-Haq, and Imran Tahir.

CPL match prediction
The Warriors certainly look the better side on paper, and have equally explosive batting and bowling units. While the Tallawahs’ middle-order has the potential to devastate opponents, the spinners are likely to keep them in check, and enable the Warriors to do the double over the Tallawahs.
Prediction: Guyana Amazon Warriors to win the CPL match.