T20 – The 592 Dugout

Stunning Shepherd carries Guyana Amazon Warriors to thrilling Super Over win over TKR

The match belonged to Guyana Amazon Warriors’ Romario Shepherd. He first took 3 for 24 to restrict Trinbago Knight Riders to 138 for 9, then hit a nine-ball 18 to take Amazon Warriors to the same total, and finally conceded just four runs in the Super Over to help his side do the league-stage double over the defending champions.

Defending six runs in the Super Over, Shepherd first had Knight Riders captain Kieron Pollard hole out first ball. Then he did not allow Colin Munro or Tim Seifert to hit a boundary off the other five balls. His all-round effort justifiably earned him a Player-of-the-Match award too.

Nicholas Pooran’s Amazon Warriors needed just 139 to win after Shepherd and offspinner Mohammad Hafeez picked three wickets each to restrict Knight Riders to a below-par total. Shepherd made the most damage in the first innings’ death overs removing Pollard, Denesh Ramdin and Isuru Udana. Hafeez had made the early inroads by dismissing opener Sunil Narine, No. 3 Tion Webster and an off-colour Tim Seifert.

Colin Munro, who struggled with a 47-ball 40 in his team’s last CPL match found his form to anchor the innings with a 28-ball 32. However regular wickets never allowed the Knight Riders to push for a big total, and if it wasn’t for Udana’s nine-ball 21 in the slog overs, the Amazon Warriors might have been chasing a much lower total.

However, the Knight Riders fought back with the ball in the second innings powerplay. Chandrapaul Hemraj and Odean Smith fell in the first two overs to Ravi Rampaul’s deliveries that had a tendency to snake into the stump line after pitching. Shimron Hetmyer and Hafeez then began a rescue act, but the Pakistan international eventually perished for a 16-ball 30. Narine then had Hetmyer and Shoaib Malik caught behind in quick succession, and after Rampaul picked off Pooran and Brandon King in consecutive balls, it looked like the Knight Riders were going to win the contest.

It however needed the Amazon Warriors’ Nos. 9 and 10 to take them to a tie. Shepherd tonked two sixes and a four to score 18, and then Naveen-Ul-Haq hit a five-ball 13. Amazon Warriors needed two off the final ball to seal a one-wicket win, but a run out while searching for the double dragged the game to overtime.

Guyana Amazon Warriors 138 for 9 (Pooran 27, Rampaul 4-29, Narine 2-9) tied with Trinbago Knight Riders 138 for 9 (Munro 32, Hafeez 3-18, Shepherd 3-24)
Guyana Amazon Warriors win the one-over eliminator

(Story from ESPNcricinfo.com by Sreshth Shah)

Pooran to lead Guyana Amazon Warriors for CPL 2021

Nicholas Pooran has been named as the new captain of Guyana Amazon Warriors ahead of the CPL 2021 season. The dashing ‘keeper-batsman will take over the reins from Chris Green, who has been released by the franchise. Along with Pooran, the Warriors have retained a total of 11 players from last year’s squad including the likes of Shimron Hetmyer, Brandon King, Imran Tahir and Naveen Ul Haq. The big missing name is Mujeeb ur Rahman – the leading wicket-taker in 2020 with 16 wickets has been ignored.

Meanwhile, Andre Russell, who had a bittersweet relationship with the Tallawahs last year where he even indicated about leaving the team at the end of the tournament, will surprisingly stay with Jamaica along with fellow local stars – Carlos Brathwaite, Rovman Powell, Chadwick Walton, Fidel Edwards and promising youngster in Ryan Persaud being the seventh player to be retained by the franchise.

Two-time champions Barbados Tridents have retained skipper Jason Holder despite enduring a tough 2020 campaign where they lost 7 games and failed to qualify for the semis. Apart from Holder, Shai Hope, Kyle Mayers, Raymon Reifer, Justin Greaves, Nyeem Young, Joshua Bishop, Johnson Charles and Hayden Walsh Jr are the others to have been given the contract extension.

Defending Champions Trinbago Knight Riders have parted ways with veteran Dwayne Bravo with the all-rounder being traded to St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots. They’ve got back Denesh Ramdin in return and overall have managed to retain the majority of the team which won them the trophy last year. Kieron Pollard will remain captain while the leading run-scorer of the previous season, Lendl Simmons, who amassed 356 runs in 11 games last season, will continue to represent the Knight Riders, in addition to other big names like Colin Munro, Sunil Narine, Darren Bravo, Sikandar Raza and Khary Pierre.

Another team that had a forgettable competition in 2020 was St Kitts & Nevis Patriots. The franchise was severely handicapped due to the absence of stars owing to Covid-19. They could muster just one win in 10 games and bagged the wooden spoon. However, the inclusion of seasoned campaigner Dwayne Bravo from TKR will be a shot in the arm for the Patriots. They have also successfully traded Sherfane Rutherford from Guyana in their bid to strengthen the batting.

The runners-up St Lucia Zouks will see a new skipper in this upcoming edition of CPL as Daren Sammy announced his decision to quit captaincy to assume the role of consultant and Brand Ambassador for the Zouks. Other prominent names to feature in the retained list are Andre Fletcher, Kesrick Williams, Rahkeem Cornwall and Roston Chase, who was the top run-getter for the franchise. But they have let go of the Afghanistan spin duo of Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan. The reason behind this move being their busy International schedule. (Story from Cricbuzz)

Retained players:

St Lucia Zouks– Andre Fletcher, Kesrick Williams, Rahkeem Cornwall, Roston Chase, Obed Mccoy, Mark Deyal and Javelle Glenn.

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots –Dwyane Bravo (from TKR), Evin Lewis, Fabian Allen, Sherfane Rutherford (from GAW), Sheldon Cotrell, Rayad Emrit, Jon Russ Jaggesar, Dominic Drakes, Joshua Da SIlva

Barbados Tridents– Jason Holder, Johnson Charles, Shai Hope, Kyle Mayers, Hayden Walsh JR, Raymon Reifer, Justin Greaves, Nyeem Young, Joshua Bishop

Guyana Amazon Warriors –Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Imran Tahir, Brendon King, Naveen Ul Haq, Romario Shephard, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Odean Smith, Anthony Bramble, Kevin Sinclair, Ashmead Nedd

Jamaica Tallawahs– Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Rovman Powell, Fidel Edwards, Veerasammy Permaul, Ryan Persaud

Trinbago Knight Riders – Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Darren Bravo, Colin Munro, Lendl Simmons, Sikandar Raza, Khary Pierre, Anderson Phillip, Dinesh Ramdin (From St Kitts), Tion Webster, Akeal Hosein, Jayden Seales, Ali Khan

CPL to start on August 28; final on September 19

The 2021 edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will start on August 28 with the final set for September 19, the organising committee has confirmed. Like the 2020 season, the entire tournament will be held in a bio-bubble with the tournament moving from Trinidad & Tobago to St. Kitts and Nevis, with all the 33 games set to be played at the Warner Park.

With its ability to attract some of the best cricketers across the world, the CPL has fast turned out to be one of the biggest T20 franchise tournament and its global viewership was estimated at 523 million in 2020, a steep 67% increase in numbers when compared to that of the 2019 edition of the tournament.

Pete Russell, Hero CPL’s COO, said: “It is really exciting to have the tournament window for 2021 confirmed and I would like to thank the St Kitts & Nevis government for agreeing to host this year’s event. We would also like to extend our thanks to Cricket West Indies for helping us create this window in a busy summer of cricket for them. We are looking forward to once again successfully staging the Hero CPL in 2021.”

This year’s tournament will bring the curtains down on a packed home calendar for West Indies which is set to host South Africa (2 Tests and 5 T20Is), Australia (5 T20Is and 3 ODIs) and Pakistan (5 T20Is and 2 Tests) across various islands. (Story from Cricbuzz)

Pooran, Hetmyer & Sinclair among 11 retained by Guyana Amazon Warriors

The Guyana Amazon Warriors have announced their retentions for the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League which gets underway in St Kitts & Nevis on 28 August.

The Amazon Warriors have retained 11 of the players who guided them to the semi-finals of the 2020 event. Nicholas Pooran made the only century of last year’s tournament and he will be back with the Warriors this year along with Shimron Hetmyer and Brandon King.

***Kevin Sinclair has also been retained by the Amazon Warriors***

The Warriors will also be welcoming back South African leg spinner Imran Tahir and Afghan fast bowler Naveen ul Haq.

The squad also features up and coming Guyanese players Kevin Sinclair and Ashmead Nedd, both of whom impressed in 2020 at their first Hero CPL.

The Amazon Warriors have six spots left to fill in their squad and these will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Guyana Amazon Warriors management team said: ‘’The Management of the Guyana Amazon Warriors Franchise are very pleased to retain the core group of players which comprised our squad over the last two years. The Franchise is very appreciative of the retained players for their loyalty and commitment to the Guyana Amazon Warriors. It is the hope of the Franchise that with the majority of players being together over the last two tournaments, the team unity, camaraderie and support for one another in working towards a common goal and purpose will bring the desired result of winning the tournament this year.” (CPL Release)

Ross Taylor to bolster Guyana Amazon Warriors in CPL 2020

Following the completion of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2020 Player Draft, all franchise squads have been completed with a number of overseas and Caribbean signings boosting each side.

Perennial bridesmaids, the Guyana Amazon Warriors have stuck with 13 players from last year’s squad which went undefeated during the round robin stage. However, they have added massive firepower to an already rampant batting line-up in the form of New Zealander Ross Taylor who is known for his swashbuckling approach to batting. Afghanistan’s 20-year-old right arm medium-fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq has also been added to the Warriors roster while Imran Tahir, Chris Green, Brandon King, Shimron Hetmyer, Keemo Paul and Sherfane Rutherford have all been retained. Youngsters Ashmead Nedd and Kevin Sinclair have also made the cut.

Over in the Trinbago Knight Riders franchise, India’s Pravin Tambe is set to play in the CPL after being signed, a first for any Indian player. They have also retained Australian leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed and have signed New Zealand wicketkeeper Tim Seifert and Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza.

Defending champions, the Barbados Tridents, will have a dangerous spin duo after the acquisition of Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan who will partner with Hayden Walsh Jr. Meanwhile Englishman Alex Hales and Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis will also be part of the team. The other overseas signings are England’s Harry Gurney and Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz.

The St Kitts & Nevis Patriots have signed Australian duo Chris Lynn and Ben Dunk along with Ish Sodhi and Sohail Tanvir.

South African Rassie van der Dussen returns to the Patriots after a fruitful 2018 while Fabian Allen, Evin Lewis, Sheldon Cottrell and captain Rayad Emrit all make returns.

After a horrorshow in 2019, the Jamaica Tallawahs have called up Carlos Brathwaite who was released by the Patriots. Nepalese leg spinner Sandeep Lamichhane and South African left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi will also don the Tallawahs kit this year. Pakistani all-rounder Asif Ali also joins the line-up and leading run-scorer from last season, Glenn Phillips will suit up once again.

Andre Russell, Rovman Powell, and Oshane Thomas are among the locals who have been retained.