Guyana Amazon Warriors focus on fitness ahead of CPL

THE GUYANA Amazon Warriors have been focussing on improving player fitness, both physically and mentally, ahead of the 2021 Caribbean Premier League (CPL), which will be contested from August 26 to September 15 at Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts.

Team manager Omar Khan said on Monday, before the squad’s departure for St Kitts, “We had a one-week camp here in Guyana, with local and regional players, and it went really well.

“The guys went through some fitness assessment work with their fitness levels, getting them to the right level of fitness, both physically and mentally, throughout the tournament. It was a very good camp. The international players will join us in St Kitts later on this week. We are preparing as best as we can for the tournament, under the protocols.

Khan added, “It’s always a challenge to get the guys mentally ready, to be prepared to deal with situations. That’s one of the things that we’ll be working on.”

Persistent rainfall badly affected the trio of T20 Internationals between the West Indies and Pakistan, in Guyana, two weeks ago. But Khan said that the weather was more helpful for the Amazon Warriors squad, during their camp at the Guyana National Stadium in Providence.

“It wasn’t a major interruption in terms of the rain. We had a good week with them. Whenever there was rain, we used that (time) to do some inside work.”

West Indies T20 vice-captain Nicholas Pooran is being touted as the Amazon Warriors skipper for the 2021 competition.

Khan said, “We haven’t officially announced Pooran as captain but we will make that decision when the whole team gets together.”

Guyana Amazon Warriors squad: Nicholas Pooran, Shoaib Malik, Imran Tahir, Shimron Hetmyer, Mohammad Hafeez, Brandon King, Naveen ul-Haq, Romario Shepherd, Waqar Salamkhiel, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Odean Smith, Nial Smith, Gudakesh Motie, Anthony Bramble, Kevin Sinclair, Ashmead Nedd.