BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC- A top-of-the-League clash between leaders Guyana Amazon Warriors and second placed Jamaica Tallawahs will signal the start of the knock-out stage of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) tonight.
Warriors and Tallawahs are among four teams vying for a spot in the finals on Sunday after the elimination of Barbados Tridents and St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
Breakout star of the CPL this year, Rovman Powell, says Tallawahs are seeking to bounce back after Back-to-back losses to the St Lucia Zouks in the Florida leg.
“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,” said Powell.
“We have got the next few days to get our plans right for the finals.”
A loss in today’s game at Warner Park will not lead to automatic elimination.
The top two teams will get another chance to qualify for the final against the winner of Playoff 2.
“We really want to go to St Kitts and get the final place secured,” Powell said.
“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”.
Meantime the Amazon Warriors are reported to be 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,” said Dwayne Smith.
“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.”
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 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,” Smith said.
“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.”
