Heading into the business end of the Caribbean Premier League, captain of the Guyana Amazon Warriors Chris Green, says there is calm and that he believes the side is on the right path.
Green was speaking yesterday during a virtual press conference as the condensed tournament took a break after four matches.
“We’re third on the table, we’re two from four, I don’t think there is any need to panic we just have to stay positive, stick together as a unit and continue to learn as we go through each game,” he said.
The 26-year-old off-spinner explained that the “vibe” in the unit remains intact with the team in good spirits despite “a scrappy win” and falling short in their last match.
The Australian, when asked if he feels pressured indicated, “I think there is pressure on teams to win games. This year with a different nature of the tournament and obviously the different nature of the playoffs, it’s crucial just to make that top four so we are well aware of what we need to do, we continue to build that and play our better cricket at the back end of the tournament.”
Green expressed his satisfaction with the way the bowlers had churned out decent performances as well as the work in the field but admitted the batting has not yet exploded.
Nevertheless, the captain posited that the batting department has shown signs of improvement and heading over to Queen’s Park Oval could signal a turnaround in that department.
“I have spoken about it, batting out there in these conditions is pretty tough and we’ve got some guys that are starting to show a bit of form, Nicholas Pooran and Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul in the last game, the guys got a good opportunity to bat and hopefully put some runs on the board for us and hopefully get a bit of form going into Queens Park Oval,” he stated.
The openers have equally shown the effects of an extended period without playing but Green vested his trust in them and backed their ability to produce the goods.
“I don’t have concerns over anyone’s form at the moment, some guys miss out, some guys get runs. Look at [Brandon] King’s unbelievable run last year its always going to be pressure trying to match that but I think he is a quality player, he plays for the West Indies, he’s done well for us in the past and we have full faith of him coming right. [Chandrapaul] Hemraj has shown glimpses of it through different stages so far and I back these guys, I think they are not far away from a big score, new ground now and hopefully some better conditions for batting,” Green noted.
He argued, “I don’t think our batters are far away and once they start firing and once they start click into gear I think we can get there.”
The right hander contended that the side seems to be going “on the right path,” with the batsmen spending time in the middle and getting knock.
The management of the five-time finalists have in the past revealed their intent to manage the players and rotate them in order to maneuver through the condensed fixture.
Green said the evidence of this was in the rotation of Ashmead Nedd, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith and Navee-Ul-Haq but reckoned that the side will have to find a balance of producing the best playing XI on each match, noting the bench strength.
“We’ve discussed different options within our team, we’ve got some quality players in the middle and obviously Bramble is a great player on the bench as well, we’ve now played four games so change of venue, we need to assess what’s our best XI for each game, we are now managing our fast bowlers to ensure they are in a great space throughout the tournament and the same for our batting, we’ve got to select the best XI for the day and we’ve got to ensure they are in the best frame of mind, we’ve got a quick turnaround…so we don’t want guys to fall by the wayside, lose form or get tired so we will continue to rotate as we have done,” he stated.
Warriors will battle Jamaica Tallawahs today at 17.30 hours.
