We have a third successive double header day of action in the Caribbean Premier League on Thursday, one which gets underway with two teams who have had very different CPL 2020 seasons so far as the St Lucia Zouks take on the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
These two sides have already met this season when the Zouks came out on top and if that result is repeated here the St Lucia outfit will be looking very pretty indeed, while the Patriots will be under pressure to find a winning run.
St Lucia Zouks
The schedule might not have done the Zouks many favours it has to be said. They were in action on Wednesday afternoon and then they are back at it again here. One thing which might have helped them was that it was a shortened game against the Knight Riders because of the rain. While the rain came at the wrong time to give them a good chance of winning, it did mean it wasn’t a full match so the energy levels in the camp shouldn’t have taken too much of a hit.
That defeat has left the Zouks with three wins and a couple of losses halfway through their campaign so they wouldn’t really want another defeat here it has to be said. If they are to pick up the victory they just need to be careful in the middle overs of their innings not to lose too many wickets and to ensure they are rotating the strike. We’ve already seen in the tournament that they don’t need loads of runs to defend but their batting is a little thin if they lose a pile of early wickets.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots
The St Kitts and Nevis Patriots will be buoyed by finally getting off the mark for their campaign in their previous match. It took them four attempts but they finally got their first win when they knocked off the defending champions Barbados Tridents. You wouldn’t say there was a lot that was convincing about their display but there is no substitute for winning and they will hope to take the confidence from that into this one.
St Kitts are going to have to bat better as a unit if they are going to get where they want to be this season, but at least Evin Lewis has come into form and there aren’t too many better batsmen in this competition than him when he is fully firing. Ultimately though, the big issue they have is their spin department being the weakest in the competition, and the longer this thing runs the more significant that is going to be.
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Key Men
Mohammad Nabi has to be a key man for the St Lucia Zouks here. Not only he is a batsman who is finding the middle of the bat at the minute, but his off spin could keep Lewis and Lynn honest at the top of the order with the new ball.
Evin Lewis is the catalyst to success or otherwise for the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. He is the only player in the squad to have passed 100 runs for the campaign so his task now is to push on and keep piling on the runs.
Betting
It isn’t ideal that the St Lucia Zouks have already played on Wednesday while the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots had the day off but I’m going to take the chance that the fact it was barely a one innings game means that the Zouks are fresh enough here because I do think they are the better balanced and probably better side of the two. If they can keep Evin Lewis quiet they will go a long way to picking up the win here and they have the bowlers to do that.
I’ve not really seen anything from this Patriots bowling attack that is going to worry the St Lucia Zouks batsmen, so as long as they don’t go gung ho and chase a score that they don’t need, I expect them to be the ones to come out on top. The Zouks have Rakheem Cornwall back at the top of the innings to get them off to a flier and if he does that the rest is likely to follow. It will take more than a defeat to the Trinbago Knight Riders for me to abandon the Zouks. I’m with them here.
Tips
WON – Back St Lucia Zouks to beat St Kitts and Nevis Patriots for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
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