Ian Campbell: `I didn’t follow from game one but I am a fan of CPL. My favourite match was the one where the Trinbago Knight Riders beat the St Lucia Stars narrowly. That was a nail-biting match. The Warriors I think need to improve on their bowling attack especially in the spin department. Last season we had prevailed with Narine and Zampa and for a bit Bishoo. Now it’s just Permaul as the recognised spinner and that has been the strength of our bowling for the past seasons. However, now I think we have over compensated with the faster bowlers. The line up on paper looks inexperienced except for the likes of Permaul, Guptill, Walton, Tanvir, Mohammed and Emrit. I would say it’s a balanced team and I love the fact that Gajanand Singh is on the team since I heard about him a lot regionally over the past years. My only disappointment is the lack of Guyanese in our own franchise. Anyone loves to be on a winning side and the fact that West Indies cricket only makes sense in 20/20 cricket solely because of the politics involved, our entire cricketing culture has changed. While conventional test cricket maybe the pinnacle for some I beg to differ— it’s the same world class players and basically the same rules applied, just like in athletics where you have from 60 metres to marathon. It’s the same running but different types and all are loved and appreciated, but there are different skill sets involved. So I’d prefer to look at CPL because the games are more unpredictable and competitive and for the West Indies team there is a higher chance of winning.
Onika Stellingburg: `Yes, I have been following this year’s CPL from the beginning, I do not have a favourite match because I haven’t actually looked at them but I’ve just been listening to the scores and so on. In terms of the Warriors I think they need to improve on their all-round performances because we’ve not been playing at the same level that we played in the years before, this could be due to several reasons, not to say any one is the main cause but we do have a different lineup of players. I don’t know if they didn’t have enough time to work together as a team, build their camaraderie or so on. As it relates to my preference, I’d say CPL is more exciting, but test cricket, you really get to sit down and look at the skill of players over a couple of days and that is the type of cricket I grew up seeing so, I like them both.’
Chris Brehaspat: `My favourite match so far has been the Guyana Amazon Warriors versus the St Lucia Stars. I think the Guyana Amazon Warriors need a lot of improvement when it comes to their batting lineup because if you do look at our batting structure…we have world class bowlers in our lineup but then the batting just doesn’t click. If the openers, which are Chadwick Walton or Guptill don’t get off to a fiery start and they get out very early in the game, the game is slanted, or it goes in one direction, which is toward losing. And if you look at the first match which they played against St Kitts, they had to make 130 something runs and they fell short twice. And that is all because of their batting lineup. Because they were able to restrict the opposition but they were not able to make the runs. I prefer CPL over test cricket because CPL is a shorter format of the game and it brings about excitement, thrills and it’s something that happens once a year. It’s the biggest party in sports. That is where we get to see our local players showcase their ability on a very big stage, worldwide.’
Ashwini Mohamed: `I think Guyana’s best performance was against St Lucia. Overall, the batting wasn’t that good. The fielding was okay, but the batting wasn’t much. They could have done more. Especially at the beginning when CPL started, they used to perform better than how they’re playing now. They should change back the lineup. The person they’re opening with, they should stick with that, but the lineup in the middle needs some adjustment, because remember we don’t have the players we have from before. They need to bring back the first team. Santoki, Narine…and those Pakistanis. I prefer CPL all the way. It has more action than the Test matches—those are more boring and they don’t bring the crowd. We usually go to all four matches but how they started off so far for this game made me lose interest. However, now my tickets for the Sunday and Tuesday game are booked already.’
Yonnick Fredericks: `Personally my favourite match for CPL 2017 was the game between the Guyana Amazon Warriors and the St. Lucia Stars where we needed eight to win off the final over and the local boy Singh along with Primus took us over the line with one ball to spare. I believe if the Warriors are to enter the playoffs of this year’s competition there needs to be improvements in the middle order of the batting line up as too often the openers give us fast starts but then we suddenly lose wickets in the middle. This year’s lineup of players are good as there is a mixture of both young emerging players who are getting the opportunity to rub shoulders with the more experienced players both locally and internationally. I would prefer to look at a CPL match as it is more intense and exhilarating to watch because of the fact that it finishes so quickly. Each run, each wicket, and each dropped catch could be very costly to any team.’
Gavin Dover: `CPL this year to me started slowly in terms of support and hype. I think it’s because of the loss of interest in West Indies cricket by their fans. And Guyana’s losing form won’t surprise me if there is a decline in support this year together with the state of the economy and ticket prices increasing. I prefer CPL because it’s short and more exciting and most times thrilling. I plan on going to the home games, however the midday and weekend games are quite challenging for the working Guyanese population. However, my favourite match so far was Trinidad versus St Kitts because they are this year’s best composed and balanced team and that match had many twists and had you on the edge until the final over. The Warriors this year lacked experienced T20 batsmen with high strike rates. They are short of a top order left handed batsman. I think most teams did not shop well this year in terms of picking a balanced team. They are either heavy in batting or heavy in bowling.’
Orson Quintyn: `My favourite match was the game we played against St Lucia because we won finally. After three tries and losses, we finally got it. Before that match I wasn’t even thinking about going to a game but after, I went out and bought my ticket. We were actually at the bottom of the tail end, so finally we got some points and I have faith in them again. Because after three straight losses I was wondering if we were on a losing streak but we could be on a winning streak now. I think they need to improve on their fielding. We have good batsmen and even in the lower order those guys performed but too many catches are being dropped, we have to do something, somebody has to up their game. You can’t want to win a game and you’re dropping the big men from the opposing team. In that game with Trinidad that we were supposed to win, they dropped Munro and he came back and was the one that batted right out to the end and won the game for Trinidad. So they have to work on the fielding as it’s really disappointing. That wasn’t the team that was there last year for sure. Those guys were playing way better than that, so I hope they work on that. We have a real cheap team, no doubt. We have three main batsmen…Guptill, Jason Mohammed and Chadwick…when those three men out, everybody else left are a set of low order batsmen. Mostly those guys could really field more than batting so they have to work on that. We’ll make it through to the finals because that’s our luck; we’re Warriors and we will war until we get to the finals because we have to face Trinidad. We have a bone to pick with them. They beat us already right over there and we’re going to take it back this year. This is our year.’
Curt Nicholas: `I’m enjoying the matches so far, but I’m disappointed that Guyana only won one game. I find that the players that we bought are not quality players as the other countries. My favourite match was with Trinidad and St Kitts and Nevis. In terms of selecting players, I feel we need to get back Lendl Simmons and so.’
Delon Moffett: `Yes I have been following this year’s CPL. My favourite match so far has been the Guyana Amazon Warriors’ victory against the St. Lucia Stars, mainly because I enjoyed the cameo from Gajanand Singh. It’s nice to see him fulfilling his potential with the bat. The Guyana Amazon Warriors need to improve in their approach to setting and chasing totals. More often than not the batting lacks impetus and that does not allow the team to set above par totals and also, when chasing their approach often leaves the chase too late. This year has a decent line up. I mean they could stop picking friends and family and end up with a much stronger team in the future. I am excited about Rashid Khan and the other youngsters in the team. I wish them well. Personally I prefer test cricket. The CPL has its challenges, two of them being the quality of the pitches and the quality of the batting. Both are recipes for low scoring games.
Saeed Gopie: `My favourite match was the Barbados Tridents versus the Trinbago Knight Riders. In terms of the Guyana Amazon Warriors, I believe we have a strong bowling line up and our out fielding is pretty ordinary but we should focus on our batting as it has been failing us this year. I’m glad that we have included players from Afghanistan in this year’s CPL, but I’d also like to see players from England and India in the upcoming years.’
