Guyana Amazon Warriors vs Trinbago Knight Riders, Match 30, Providence: Preview, predictions, likely XIs

Guyana Amazon Warriors vs Trinbago Knight Riders, Match 30, Providence: Preview, predictions, likely XIs

Chris Green Guyana Amazon Warriors

Having won all 9 of their matches in the 2019 CPL, Guyana Amazon Warriors are certain to top the table (by a reasonable margin) and play Qualifier 1. St Kitts and Nevis, currently third, will play the Eliminator. The remaining teams – Barbados Tridents and Trinbago Knight Riders – are the other two Playoffs teams.

If Guyana (expectedly) beat Trinbago at home in the final league match or if the match is washed out, they will play Barbados in Qualifier 1. On the other hand, if Trinbago win here, they will play Guyana (again) in Qualifier 1.

However, Trinbago is up against a colossal challenge. Their last 5 matches have resulted in 4 defeats and a “no-result”. This includes a 19-run defeat against Guyana, a margin that might have been doubled but for a valiant Kieron Pollard onslaught.

While Pollard, Lendl Simmons, and Colin Munro have been excellent for Trinbago, the support has been feeble. Darren Bravo has got runs, but not at a pace his team would have liked him to. And barring Sunil Narine and Khary Pierre, more or less everyone has leaked runs.

On the other hand, every single Guyana bowler has been on the mark, rarely giving anything away, with Imran Tahir (mid-way replacement for Shadab Khan), Romario Shepherd, Chris Green and Qais Ahmed leading the way. No team has reached 170 against them in the tournament.

Their batsmen, who have more or less played unchanged throughout the tournament, did not need to chase big scores, and could afford to play themselves in. However, in Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, and Shoaib Malik, they have a group of batsmen who can accelerate whenever needed.

All in all, the hosts will take field as firm favourites.

Head to head

History (till this edition, that is) is the only thing that favours the Knight Riders: they lead the Amazon Warriors 10-7.

Key players

Imran Tahir (Guyana Amazon Warriors): Guyana drafted in Tahir midway for the in-form Shadab; Tahir responded with 13 wickets at under 10 and an economy under 6. Expect him to bring all his experience and skillset to the forefront yet again.

Lendl Simmons (Trinbago Knight Riders): With a strike rate of 166, Simmons has been Trinbago’s go-to batsman in the tournament. He needs 6 runs to become the leading run-scorer, but he will look forward to scoring significantly more than that.

Likely XIs

Guyana Amazon Warriors: Brandon King, Chanderpaul Hemraj, Shimron Hetmyer, Shoaib Malik (c), Nicholas Pooran (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Chris Green, Keemo Paul, Romario Shepherd, Qais Ahmed, Imran Tahir.

Trinbago Knight Riders: Jimmy Neesham, Lendl Simmons, Colin Munro, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard (c), Denesh Ramdin (wk), Javon Searles, Mark Deyal, Chris Jordan, Khary Pierre, Ali Khan.

Prediction

Guyana to continue with their unbeaten run.