St Kitts & Nevis Patriots and Guyana Amazon Warriors face each other once again at the Warner Park in St Kitts, tonight 06:00h, as the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) continues.
Of course, the Warriors have faced a major blow after captain Shoaib Malik has departed for duties with the Pakistan Cricket Team. Malik is among the top scorers for Warriors with 119 runs, only the second batsman to pass the 100-run mark following 5 innings.
Without a doubt, the task may fall on the shoulders of Rayad Emrit who has led the Amazon Warriors before.
Head to head, Warriors and Patriots have battled six times, with the Guyana winning four of those matches.
The Patriots are coming off a decisive six-wicket win in the last match against Barbados Tridents. After Anton Devcich and Ben Cutting restricted the Tridents to a mere 147, the Patriots chased down the total with relative ease.
Although Mohammad Irfan starred with two wickets, conceding only one run in his four overs, a charge led by Brandon King and equally supported by Ben Cutting helped the Patriots to gain two points.
As for the Guyana Amazon Warriors, things were starkly opposite, as they lost by six wickets against St Lucia Stars. Their batsmen tried hard but could not connect the ball effectively. Things never got going, as they ended up at 140 for nine.
Newly recruited Veerasammy Permaul then made some inroads, but those were not enough for the Warriors to get back in the match.
It was expected that the opening pair of Chadwick Walton and Luke Ronchi would fire, but after five innings, neither of the two has an aggregate over 90.
Shimron Hetmyer has also been in silken touch, and the previous failure can be considered as a one-off.
With the ball, Veerasammy Permaul has given them a new hope, while Sohail Tanvir and Imran Tahir remain the front-runners.
As for the Patriots, Sandeep Lamichhane did not do well in the last match, and would be eager to bounce back. All-rounders Ben Cutting and Anton Devcich have been doing well with both bat and ball. Skipper Chris Gayle and Brandon King too are expected to go big.
Expected playing XI
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots– Chris Gayle (C), Evin Lewis, Devon Thomas, Brandon King, Tom Cooper, Anton Devcich, Sandeep Lamichhane, Mahmudullah, Ben Cutting, Sheldon Cottrell, Carlos Brathwaite
Guyana Amazon Warriors– Chadwick Walton, Luke Ronchi (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Cameron Delport, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Mohammed, Sohail Tanvir, Chris Green, Rayad Emrit, Keemo Paul, Imran Tahir
