Two nights ago the Guyana Amazon Warriors and the Barbados Royals clashed in the group stages of the Caribbean Premier League with a second place finish for Guyana and a chance to play the Barbados Royals again at stake.
Cheered on by a vibrant home crowd, the Warriors strolled to a five-wicket victory.
The two teams will clash again this morning from 10am with much more at stake. Today’s winner will be guaranteed a spot in the finals with the losers having a second shot at reaching the finals via an eliminator match.
The Royals did the front running winning all but two of the 10 matches they played to end the preliminary rounds with 16 points.
The Amazon Warriors in contrast started poorly and had to make up ground towards the later stages of the preliminaries when they churned out four wins from as many matches to finish second with 10 points.
Yesterday, Guyana Amazon Warriors skipper Shimnron Hetmeyr praised the performance of his players.
“So far the guys doing okay. The start wasn’t what we were expecting but when they got back to Guyana their spirits were much higher than I expected ready to go basically,” said Hetmyer at a press conference with the captains of the four semi-final teams.
Hetmyer also lauded the support of the crowds which have turned out to cheer the team on as they battled to make the semi-finals after a poor start.
“With the crowds…As they say the 12th man really plays a part so I think having the crowds here and knowing the conditions, I think the guys are really up for the challenge. We’ve been playing fantastic cricket for the past four games I just trust that we can continue and enjoy each other’s company,” Hetmyer ended.
His opposite number Kyle Mayers said that the tournament has been great so far.
“I think the guys have been playing some good cricket. It’s unfortunate that we lost a game last night. We wanted to win the game to go into the playoffs with some momentum but I think the guys have been awesome,” he said adding that the guys are still in high spirits and ready to go.
