ABOUT THE MATCH

St Lucia Zouks’ return as one of the Caribbean Premier League franchises starts with a match away to last year’s runners-up, Guyana Amazon Warriors, at Providence Stadium. The match is scheduled for September 5.

The Warriors had Shimron Hetmyer in good form last season and he and Nicholas Pooran will lead their batting in this tournament.

For the Zouks, meanwhile, international commitments have forced them into several rethinks. Darren Sammy will lead the team, with Andre Fletcher and new West Indian cult hero Rahkeem Cornwall also in the squad. One of their best signings, meanwhile, could be Fawad Ahmed – last season’s leading wicket-taker as he helped Trinbago Knight Riders to victory.

TOSS PREDICTION

On home soil, Guyana Amazon Warriors will want to win the toss and get the first crack at the Providence wicket.

PITCH AND CONDITIONS

Rain the previous day and cloud earlier on Thursday will all have burned away by the time the match starts in the evening in gloriously warm and sunny conditions in Guyana.

The Guyana wicket was one of those used on India’s tour of the West Indies, with the pacemen in the wickets during the T20i match at Providence Stadium. It has been a month since, however, so this pitch should be in tip-top condition.

PROBABLE PLAYING XI OF Guyana Amazon

Keegan Simmons, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Shoaib Malik (c), Sherfane Rutherford, Chris Green, Ben Laughlin, Shadab Khan, Keemo Paul, Romario Shepherd

PROBABLE PLAYING XI OF St Lucia Zouks

Cameron Delport, Andre Fletcher (wk), John Campbell, Darren Sammy (c), Kavem Hodge, Nitish Kumar, Rahkeem Cornwall, Obed McCoy, Krishmar Santokie, Kesrick Williams, Fawad Ahmed

MATCH PREVIEW

Guyana Amazon

  • Guyana Amazon Warriors have retained key players from last seasons, such as their top runscorer Shimron Hetmyer while adding key new signings too.
  • The most notable of those is Nicholas Pooran, as wicket-keeper-batsman, while Shadab Khan bolsters the spin-bowling department.
  • Guyana Amazon Warriors were runners-up in the last season of Caribbean Premier League.
  • They finished second in the group with six wins and four defeats narrowly pipping Jamaica Tallawahs on net run rate and then beat Trinbago Knight Riders in the first qualifier.
  • In the final, however, their score of 147/9 was not enough as they suffered an eight-wicket defeat to the Knight Riders with 2.3 overs remaining.

St Lucia Zouks

  • St Lucia Zouks’ return to the CPL has seen them already rip up their plans once Lasith Malinga, Niroshan Dickwella and Beuran Hendricks will miss the entire tournament and Thisara Perera is unavailable for the first two games.
  • For these first two games, the named replacements are Krishmar Santokie, Najibullah Zadran, Cameron Delport, and Kavem Hodge.
  • Colin de Grandhomme is not yet available and nor is Hardus Viljoen.
  • St Lucia Zouks are back in the Caribbean Premier League, having replaced St Lucia Stars the franchise which had, in turn, replaced them in 2016.

PROBABLE WINNING TEAM:

Guyana Amazon Warriors reached the final last year and they have bolstered their squad with some good new additions too. This is a chance to start on the right note.

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