Amazon Warriors ready for battle

By Rajiv Bisnauth –

The Guyana Amazon Warriors began a seven-day training programme as part of preparations for the July 30 start of the much-anticipated Limacol Caribbean Premier League (LCPL) T20 tournament. Ten of the 15 members started the training camp on Tuesday at the Guyana National Stadium under coach Roger Harper.
New Zealanders, James Franklin and Martin Guptill will join the squad upon their arrival here (Guyana) on Friday while international star Mohammed Hafeez, West Indies franchise player Sunil Narine and Lendl Simmons will unite with the squad at the end of the West Indies/ Pakistan series.

“The purpose of this camp is to get the players together.
“We wanted to get the players together, so we could do remedial work on their game and continue to set plans going forward and what is expected of them,” said Harper.
The 50-year-old former West Indies vice captain said the camp is vital for the continued development of each player and that he wants to focus on the basics.
“We will be looking at all the basics, batting, bowling, and fielding. We need to examine each player’s game and work on the areas in which they need to improve,” said Harper.
“Their improvement will not happen overnight because it’s a process, but they have to constantly work at their game for us to remain competitive at this level, and we want to be able to emphasise this during the camp.”
Harper said as part of the preparation, the players will be sensitised on issues pertaining to corruption with an official of the Anti-Corruption and Sports Unit (AC& SU).
Commenting on the squad, Harper said, “I thought for the specific type of competition we have a very good group of guys here and I think we have guys with experience winning regional tournaments, we got some good international players and I think once we come together, exhibit great teamwork and believe that we can win we have a great chance of winning this tournament.”
Ex-West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, who was at the helm when Guyana won the first Stanford 20/ 20 in 2006 and the inaugural Caribbean T20 in 2010, will lead the Guyana Amazon Warriors.
The 33-year-old Sarwan, who has captained Guyana in most T20 matches, has a record of 19 victories, 12 defeats and two no-results spanning matches in the Stanford 20/ 20, the Caribbean T20 and the Champions League T20.
Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez and mystery off-spinner Sunil Narine are the International and West Indies franchise players respectively.
They will be supported by openers Lendl Simmons, William Perkins, Trevon Griffith and Martin Guptill; wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, all-rounders James Franklin, Christopher Barnwell, Steven Jacobs and Narsingh Deonarine; left-arm seamer Krishmar Santokie, fast bowler Keon Joseph and left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul.
The Limacol CPL will be contested by the Antigua and Barbuda Hawksbills, Barbados Tridents, Guyana Amazon Warriors, Jamaica Tallawahs, St Lucia Zouks and Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel.