CASTRIES, St Lucia (CMC):
FOUR OF the five overseas signings that helped Guyana Amazon Warriors win the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Twenty20 tournament for the first time will be back for this year’s tournament, starting on August 29.
CPL organisers announced that the Warriors have confirmed their overseas signings for the tournament with last year’s captain, Imran Tahir, and pace bowling fellow South Africa international Dwaine Pretorius, as well as the Pakistani pair of opener Saim Ayub and burly wicketkeeper-batsman Azam Khan all returning.
The quartet will be joined by Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, the most prolific batsman so far in the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup taking place right now in the Caribbean and the United States.
The lanky Pretorius, 35, bagged 20 wickets at 15.45 apiece, and flamboyant Pakistan-born leg-spinner Tahir, 45, grabbed 18 at 15.44. They were the top two bowlers in the CPL last season.
Ayub had the second-highest aggregate of 478 runs – three less than West Indies One-day International captain and Warriors teammate Shai Hope – in the CPL last year, while Azam played a couple of handy knocks in the closing stages of matches and ended with the fourth-highest aggregate for the Warriors with 224.
The Warriors previously announced that Hope was among five members of the West Indies squad playing in the T20 World Cup had been retained among the core group of Caribbean players for this year’s tournament.
Hope, the 2023 CPL Player-of-the-Tournament, as well as the Guyanese foursome of fast bowler Shamar Joseph, left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie, left-handed batsman Shimron Hetmyer, and all-rounder Romario Shepherd have been retained.
The Warriors have three more spots to fill in their squad, and this will be done during the player draft in July.