Let’s enjoy the festivities and rally behind our ‘Warriors’

By Neil Kumar

The 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League is currently top-flight in Guyana. Defending champions Guyana Amazon Warriors are definitely on top.
In Wednesday night’s match at the Guyana National Stadium in Providence, the home team humiliated the Barbados Royals by completely outplaying them with ball and bat.

The “Royals” won the toss and asked the “Warriors” to strike first. The Amazon Warriors hit the Royals’ bowling all over the field, winning 219 runs from their allotted 20 overs. The international opening batsmen gave the home team a flying start.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz opened the batting with Azam Khan and made sure the scoreboard registered runs. But it was the team’s most respected and exciting batsmen, Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope, who put together a flamboyant but solid century partnership.

The batting of the two “Warriors” was truly exciting and their ability to turn the strike and hit the ball out of bounds was great fun. Additionally, Romario Shepherd continues to be the shooter of the tournament.
The Royals visibly suffered heavily from the scoreboard pressure in response to the Warriors’ score, as they struggled and perished in an attempt to capture the Warriors’ imposing score.
Spinners Gudakesh Motie, Moeen Ali and skipper Imran Tahir were always threatening and too good for the opposition batsmen. Only hard-hitting David Miller proved to be a force to be reckoned with, hitting a desperation single at the end.

All roads lead to the Guyana National Stadium this weekend. On Saturday, the Warriors played in St. Lucia Kings and will take on the defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders on Sunday. These two games will be exciting because all four teams are currently in the ‘Four-team play-off’.
Huge and rowdy crowds will rally behind the home team as CPL fever sweeps the nation. Expectations are very high that the tremendous batting form of players like Hetmyer, Hope and Shepherd will be better than Pooran and De Cock.

The planning and implementation of the 2024 CPL has been more successful than previous years. This has resulted in greater interest among the cricket family around the world.
Our players in this year’s tournament are absolutely breaking records and marketing themselves as a “Franchise” around the world. Guyana shines because the carnival atmosphere, “public participation” and efficient running of the tournament create an exciting tournament of the highest quality.

Apart from actual cricket, the 2024 Cricket Carnival season has something for everyone. The packed schedule includes watch parties, Wet Soca Block Party on Main Street, the highly anticipated Cricket Parade, concerts, Regional Food Festivals, a fashion showcase, among other events.
Work began on 19 September with ‘Welcome Thrills’ at the Cheddie Jagan International Airport (CJIA), a collaboration involving the Guyana Tourism Authority. Many travelers to Guyana were welcomed to the sweet sounds of steel pans, carnival models and tokens.
Let’s continue to rally behind the Amazon Warriors as we enjoy the festivities!