We already know that the Trinbago Knight Riders will compete in the Caribbean Premier League final on Sunday and on Friday night we find their opponent in the CPL 2023 conclusion when the Guyana Amazon Warriors take on the Jamaica Tallawahs in Qualifier 2.
That means that we have the hosts of the playoffs going up against the defending champions for the right to take on the biggest franchise in the competition so we are very much at the business end and the cream has risen to the top.
Guyana Amazon Warriors
The Guyana Amazon Warriors knew that they had two bites at making the final having finished top of the tournament but there is no wiggle room for them from here on in. They passed up their first chance to reach the final and will now have to perform to the standards that they set in the regular season. They won’t need anyone to tell them that historically they are all too often a completely different side in the regular part of the campaign than they are the business end.
The big issue for Guyana isn’t necessarily that they lost the Qualifier 1 but it was the comfortable manner in which they lost it. They were never really in the game and there wasn’t really a point in that contest where you thought Guyana would turn things around and come out on top. They were timid with the bat at the top of the innings and couldn’t quite pile enough pressure on at the back end and that resulted in a total they were never really in with a chance of chasing.
Jamaica Tallawahs
The Jamaica Tallawahs look to be peaking at the right time as they go about making a successful defence of their title. They won their last two regular season matches to make it into the postseason and then won a knockout match when they defeated the St Lucia Kings with relative ease in the Eliminator. That set them up with this effective semi-final for a place in the final once again. Unlike Guyana, the Tallawahs are renowned for performing at this stage of the season.
The concern for the Tallawahs though will be the injury that Mohammad Amir sustained in that win over St Lucia in the Eliminator. That took place on Tuesday and with this match on the Friday you wouldn’t think he is going to be fit to feature. That is a huge blow to both ends of the bowling innings so someone will need to step up and be counted if Jamaica are to take their title defence down to the last game. Their batting is slowly warming to the task which helps.
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Key Players
Odean Smith has been given the job of opening the batting rather than worrying about what he is doing with the ball. If he can get after whoever replaces Amir with the new ball he would have Guyana very much on the front foot.
Jamaica are going to need someone to step up with the ball and given the amount of left handers that come in this Guyana side the four overs of off spin bowled by Chris Green could be significant on a track which is beginning to take turn now.
Betting
This match became a tougher betting proposition when the injury happened to Mohammad Amir. I certainly carry little faith in the Guyana Amazon Warriors at this stage of the season but there is no escaping the gaping hole that the Amir absence is going to leave in the Jamaica Tallawahs bowling unit. I’m on Jamaica outright so hopefully they can find someone to fill that void and make it into the final but it is off to the side markets for a bet for me.
That comes in the performance of Dwaine Pretorius who has quietly had a decent season for the Amazon Warriors. He doesn’t get the limelight with some of the Caribbean stars catching the eye in this side but he has 14 wickets in the competition and has batted in all but four games in the season so he is set to have a big impression on this game. He took two wickets in both games against the Tallawahs in the regular season and if he repeats that here that will be enough but if he gets a bat one wicket might well be enough. I think the 30.5pt line looks too low.
Tips
Back D.Pretorius’ Performance – Over 30.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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