There is yet another double header of action in the Caribbean Premier League on Sunday as the CPL 2021 continues at quite a pace. The day begins with the Saint Lucia Kings take on the defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders.
The Kings started their campaign in pitiful fashion and already know they will need more points than four others to make the finals because their net run rate in shocking. Trinbago have a win and a loss from their two matches and will be looking to move their ledger into a positive state.
Saint Lucia Kings
It is hard to put into words how bad the Saint Lucia Kings were in their opening match. They weren’t just beaten, they were full on humiliated and they will be eager to show they are a lot better than that. If they are unable to do that and suffer another terrible beating here then this could be a long campaign for the 2020 finalists. You would think it is impossible for them to be as bad with the ball again but they don’t just need to improve, they need a massive improvement.
We can’t really judge the Saint Lucia Kings batting from that first match because they needed a miracle to win before they faced a ball but this match might give us a better guide. There were a couple of players who looked in good touch but if the Kings are going to win this match then you fancy they’ll need more than just two batsmen to go well. The other thing they will need is an improvement in their fielding, although that shouldn’t be too difficult.
Trinbago Knight Riders
The Trinbago Knight Riders lost their opening match but bounced back to win their second one which came with a bit of pressure so they will be encouraged by that as they bid to make a successful defence of their title. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of the Knight Riders in the tournament yet so that is something which will encourage them going into this third match. To have a win on the board and have so much more to come is a good thing.
The top order of the Trinbago outfit haven’t fired at all yet and you get the impression that they aren’t going to fail forever. Even if they do then Kieron Pollard is always there to pick up the pieces. We haven’t seen the best of the Knight Riders’ bowling either. They came good in the last few overs against the Barbados Royals on Friday night but in the main they have struggled and that is a surprise because that department usually go very strongly.
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Key Men
When a team is beaten as brutally as the Saint Lucia Kings were in their opening match the eyes of everyone will naturally be on the captain Faf du Plessis. He not only needs to ensure standards are such that a loss like that never happens again but needs to lead by example with runs and a positive body language.
If Sunil Narine gets going at the top of the Trinbago Knight Riders order then he could easily have the doubts creeping into the Kings’ bowlers and there might be another bunch of freebies served up. He can also take advantage of batsmen having to come after him with the ball.
Betting
This isn’t an easy match to bet on because we simply don’t know what we’re going to get from the Saint Lucia Kings. Heading into the tournament I thought they might be one of the teams to beat but if that is going to happen then they need to show a heck of a lot more than they did in their opening match. The fact that we haven’t seen the Trinbago Knight Riders in the best form either doesn’t exactly help matters much either.
I will side with what I’ve noticed is a trend in this competition so far and that is the insane amount of wides that have been sent down in it. Saint Lucia Kings fired 14 of them down in their only match so far while the Knight Riders have been responsible for eight and 10 in their two matches. The wides totals so far in this tournament have been 15, 25, 20, 12, 23 and 25. That is an incredible amount of wides but the reason for that is the bowlers are so determined to stay out of the hitting arc of the batsmen because they know the ground isn’t big enough to contain them. When you consider what we’ve seen from these two sides let alone the tournament as a whole, the 10.5 wides line looks nowhere near high enough. I’ll play the over.
Tips
Back Over 10.5 wides for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betway
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