The third double header day of action in a row takes place in the Caribbean Premier League on Thursday and it gets underway with the Jamaica Tallawahs looking to all but secure their semi-final spot when they go up against the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
The Patriots know that in order to have any chance of making it into the postseason they have to win this and win it big while Jamaica will move to within a win of securing their top four spot should they come out with the victory here.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots
You’d like to say that eight matches in the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots have learned from their mistakes and are starting to improve in those areas. If you did say that though you would be lying because they clearly haven’t. It is pretty obvious that they have a major weakness when it comes to playing spin but there has been no sign of them doing anything different to try and counter that. Instead they stay in their crease and go nowhere as a team.
In a way it is a shame that their batsmen are performing like that because slowly but surely more bowlers are beginning to stand up and be counted, although the strange order that they get used in continues to mystify. We’ve been hoping for a while that the Patriots would just pin their ears back and go all out attack with the bat. Now really is the time to do that so it will be interesting to see if they can adopt that intention.
Jamaica Tallawahs
Things are still nothing close to perfect for the Jamaica Tallawahs but unlike their opponents here they have worked out where they have been going wrong and clearly come up with a plan to counter that. They now need some more key players to stand up, especially with the bat, but the idea of biding their time and keeping wickets in hand is very much the way to go, it was just unfortunate that their bowling wasn’t at its best last time out else they could have won three of their last four matches.
One of the issues that Jamaica have is their captain. Rovman Powell is doing nothing with the bat and uses up deliveries that someone like Carlos Brathwaite or Andre Russell could be utilising. Worse still, someone has told him he can bowl and all that does is gift runs to the opposition which someone in the Jamaica line up has to score to make up for. His bowling changes leave a lot to be desired as well so he needs to really up his game if his side are to win the tournament.
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Key Men
You’ve got to think the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots openers will struggle against the spin on show here so there could be plenty of onus on Denesh Ramdin to deliver the goods with the bat to get something resembling a competitive total on the board.
It is a pretty easy pick to single out Glenn Phillips as the key man for Jamaica but he is the leading run scorer in the competition and has two innings in hand of the two men who are closest to him. Another big knock from him here would give the Tallawahs a good chance.
Betting
It is Glenn Phillips who I am going to side with in this match. He seems to love playing against the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. His last five innings against them beginning with the reverse meeting this term and working backwards reads 79*, 87, 8, 40 and 41 so there is obviously something about this Patriots attack that suits him. I suspect it is that there isn’t a great deal of quality mystery spin in it and so he feels more at ease.
When you factor in that the 79* was at the other ground where batting was difficult, unlike here where in the two day games at least batting has looked pretty simple. You get the feeling this St Kitts and Nevis attack is going to come onto the bat nicely for all the Jamaica players, certainly that was the case when the Patriots played Trinbago Knight Riders on Wednesday. When you then factor in the chances of a tired performance from those players there is no reason why Phillips won’t cover his 18.5 run line which you have say when all the evidence is weighed up looks very low.
Tips
VOID – Back G.Phillips – Over 18.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfair
Back him here:
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