Walton looks to Amazon Warriors future

Enterprising wicketkeeper-batsman Chadwick Walton says that while he would have preferred to stay and play for the Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League Twenty20, he is prepared to give of his best for the Guyana Amazon Warriors.

Walton, who has a been a member of the Tallawahs unit since the inauguration of the league four years ago, will represent the Amazon Warriors after being selected in the third round of the annual player draft in Barbados last Thursday.

The draft contained 15 rounds, with Walton going for the third highest capped price tag of US$110,000.

The number one draft pick for each of the six participating franchise teams, who had a budget of US$750,000, was capped at US$160,000, and the number two draftee, US$130,000.

The Amazon Warriors selected Pakistan fast bowling all-rounder Sohail Tanvir as their number one pick and New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill as their number two.

BEST FOOT FORWARD

"It would have been good if I could have stayed with the Tallawahs, but it is franchise cricket and not a national team, and being a part of the draft, there is always the possibility you can always be picked up by another team,'' Walton said.

"It is, therefore, just for me to go over there and try to put my best foot forward and do the best that I can do.''

The big-hitting Walton, who usually opens the batting with the flamboyant Chris Gayle, represents the third major player that the Tallawahs will have to do without this season. This, after it was disclosed in the off-season that Gayle would be transferred to the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, and prolific all-rounder AndrÈ Russell would be absent due to a one-year World Anti-Doping Agency ban for a whereabouts rule violation.

However, according to Walton, who has played two Tests, five one-day, and three Twenty20 internationals for the West Indies, while he knows his services might be missed, he is confident that the Tallawahs will continue to do well.

The 31-year-old, who has been experiencing a rich vein of form, having scored three centuries over the past three weeks for the Jamaica Scorpions one-day and four-day teams, as well as a WICB President XI aggregation against touring England, has also expressed the hope that he will be able to deliver for the Amazon Warriors.

The Amazon Warriors have made it to three of the four league finals to have been staged, however, they are yet to put claim to the crown.

"They have been a relatively consistent team, and I hope to do with them the same thing I did here, which is to try and perform and get them over the line,'' he said.

Season five of the Hero-sponsored Caribbean Premier League is scheduled to bowl off in the summer.