NICHOLAS Pooran has been named as captain of the Guyana Amazon Warriors for the 2021 Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

This announcement was made by team manager Omar Khan, during a Zoom media briefing on Monday.

'I'm pleased to announce Nicholas Pooran as our captain for CPL 2021,' said Khan. 'It's good to see the progress that Nicholas has made throughout the years with us. We want to give him the full support and I'm sure all the players in the team and the management staff of the franchise will be supporting him fully.

Khan continued, 'With regards to the coach, we have not had the appointment of a head coach but we have appointed Rayon Griffith, who is the assistant coach of the West Indies team, as our lead coach, and he will be supported by our strength and conditioning coach Clinton Jeremiah for this tournament.'

Former South Africa off-spinner Johan Botha was the Amazon Warriors' coach last season.

Also involved in Monday's presser was West Indies batsman Shimron Hetmyer, who is looking forward to playing under Pooran's leadership, after previous skipper Chris Green moved to the Jamaica Tallawahs.

'As a teammate, he's very good to be around,' said Hetmyer. 'It's always nice to have someone as a captain who you can pass information and give some ideas to. Playing with him for a few years now, he's a calm guy.

'It's a great initiative, for him to be captain. It will only help him to be a better cricketer and to show some leadership qualities.'

On the state of the team, Khan said, 'We are very fortunate. We have had all our players arrive (on Sunday). We have 15 players, which is our full complement of players that we are going to be utilising for the CPL 2021 tournament.

'Unfortunately, Waqar Salamkheil, the young Afghanistan left-arm wrist-spinner, was unable to make the trip because of visa issues and the situation in Afghanistan. We have decided, as a franchise, that we will just remain with those 15 players, due to the pandemic and the challenges of getting players to travel. We think we have a good squad that we can manage throughout the tournament.'

Returning to the Amazon Warriors fold are evergreen Pakistan off-spinning all-rounders Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez.

'Shoaib Malik played with us in 2019,' Khan said. 'He's back with us this year. He has that calmness (and) professionalism, and he lends a lot of support to the younger players. He's a total team person. With his overall experience, I'm sure he's going to add value to the team.

'We have Mohammad Hafeez who has lifted his game over the last year or so. We see him bringing stability and added value as an all-rounder. We think we have quite a compact batting line-up. Both Hafeez and Malik can give us some overs of spin.'

Hetmyer is hopeful that the Amazon Warriors can find the spark to capture the elusive CPL crown.

'It's not easy going to so many finals,' Hetmyer said. 'We're a pretty successful team but we haven't crossed the line in terms of winning the final.'

Guyana Amazon Warriors squad - Nicholas Poor

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