Guyana Amazon Warriors are one of the only two teams who have reached the playoffs in every single season of the Caribbean Premier League. Not only that, they have been in the finals in five out of the seven editions in total and yet, they have always missed out on the title.
Last year was their best chance of ending their title drought as they had almost a near perfect season. They won all games while going into the final but were taken down by Barbados Tridents when it mattered the most. However, they have assembled an equally strong squad for this season again and they would be desperate to go all the way this time.
Claim to fame: Finalists (2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019)
Coach: Johan Botha
Captain: Chris Green
Guyana Amazon Warriors squad for CPL 2020:
Imran Tahir, Nicholas Pooran, Brandon King, Ross Taylor, Shimron Hetmyer, Chris Green, Kissoondath Magram, Keemo Paul, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Naveen Ul Haq, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Kevin Sinclair, Ashmead Nedd, Odean Smith, Anthony Bramble, Jasdeep Singh
Probable Playing XI
Brandon King, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Shimron Hetmyer, Ross Taylor, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul, Chris Green [C], Romario Shepherd, Naveen-ul-Haq, Imran Tahir
Strengths:
Strong Batting Lineup
Guyana has some of the best local batting talent in their lineup. Brandon King finished as the highest scorer last season with a total of 496 runs to his name. Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran are two of the best young batsmen West Indies have at the moment. They are regulars in the national side and have played multiple seasons in the CPL as well. There is Chandrapaul Hemraj too. He is a solid anchor who is capable of scoring at a decent rate. And to back all of these batsmen, there is the ever reliable Kiwi international Ross Taylor, who averages 31.47 after 36 CPL games.
Good Spin bowling unit
South African spinner Imran Tahir will play for Guyana in CPL 2020 once again. He was the second highest wicket-taker last season with 16 wickets to his name at a mean average of 12.31. There is Chris Green too and he has been named as the captain of the Warriors for this edition. He is known for bowling tight line and lengths with his off-spin but it remains to be seen how he fares in this edition as he has remodelled his bowling action recently. Apart from these two, young left-arm spinner Ashmead Nedd adds to the depth of the squad. He impressed a lot in the U-19 World Cup recently and will be eager to prove his worth in CPL as well.
Decent all-rounders
Guyana have two young all-rounders in Sherfane Rutherford and Keemo Paul. While the former is a batting all-rounder, the latter’s main strength is bowling. They will slot into the lower middle-order at No.6 and 7 respectively, thus providing Guyana with plenty of firepower. Green is also a good batsman and he will follow Rutherford and Paul at No.8. So, the Warriors look totally sorted as far as the balance of their squad is considered.
Weaknesses/Issues: It doesn’t look like Guyana have any weakness as such. The only area which is slightly concerning is the absence of an experienced pacer in their squad. Romario Shepherd and Naveen-ul-Haq are quite young and they don’t have quality backup in case one of the two gets injured. Shepherd, however, was one of the top wicket-takers in the CPL last season. He picked up 13 wickets in CPL 2019 at am excellent average of 19 and will be eager to deliver his best in this edition once again.
Expected result in CPL 2020
Guyana Amazon Warriors look like a very well balanced squad. A playoff spot looks guaranteed and if they can hold their nerves from there on, they might just go on to win their first CPL title.