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 return for this year’s tournament, starting on August 29.
CPL organizers announced that the Warriors had confirmed their overseas signings for the tournament. Last year’s captain, Imran Tahir, pace bowling fellow South African international Dwaine Pretorius, and the Pakistani pair of opener Saim Ayub and burly wicketkeeper-batsman Azam Khan will all be 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, which is 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, and 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. At the same time, Azam played a couple of handy knocks in the closing stages of matches and ended with the fourth-highest aggregate for the Warriors of 224.
The Warriors previously announced that Hope was among five members of the West Indies squad playing in the T20 World Cup and had been retained among the core group of Caribbean players for this year’s tournament.
Hope, the 2023 CPL Player-of-the-Tournament, and 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, which will be done during the player draft in July.
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