The second leg of the Caribbean Premier League double header on Sunday night takes us to the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba for the first time in the CPL 2024 season for the clash between the Trinbago Knight Riders and the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
We know that the Trinbago Knight Riders are in the top four at the end of the season and that the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots won’t be but we don’t know how high up the table the home side will finish. We might go closer to finding out here.
Trinbago Knight Riders
The Trinbago Knight Riders probably haven’t dominated this competition as strongly as they would have been expected to so far but they have secured a top four finish and with three home matches still to play there is no reason why they can’t push on and secure a top two spot and give themselves two goes at making it back to the final. A win here would be a prerequisite when you consider that losses to the Patriots are like two points dropped so there is an ounce of pressure on them here.
Trinbago have four wins and a couple of defeats on their record. The wins have generally come courtesy of their batting but the losses, including the one last time out against Antigua and Barbuda, have been when their batting has been contained or just hasn’t come to the party. They will be looking for their batters to stand up here and put up a decent score on a ground which offered good tracks in the recent West Indies vs Australia series, to take the pressure off the bowlers.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots
Probably the surprise of the season so far is just how poor the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots have been. There were high hopes for them given the work that they had done on their squad in the draft but they haven’t lived up to expectation at all and you sense that there will be repercussions of that heading into next season. They haven’t been helped with injuries and it is important to reflect that but the players who have gone onto the field are good enough to have delivered a lot more than they have.
The big problems recently has been about their batting. That is in contrast to the early part of the season where their bowling couldn’t stem the flow of runs for love nor money. They have got better with the ball as we have got towards the grounds with the tired tracks but then their batting has struggled to get going. They have had some individual efforts but once they lose four wickets the rest has gone far too easily for comfort.
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Key Players
Nicholas Pooran went mental when these two sides met at Warner Park earlier in the competition. He has quietened down a little in recent matches but he can catch fire at any point. Trinbago will be hoping that is here.
Evin Lewis has generally had a decent season for the Patriots but he hasn’t been able to come up with the scores which win matches often enough. With no competitive pressure on him here it would be nice for the visitors if he can deliver here.
Betting
The sixes line for this match is the one that interests me. When they are on it the Trinbago Knight Riders can take down any bowling attack and with this being the first game on this ground you would imagine that the pitch will be decent enough for batting like they were when West Indies played South Africa here in the week prior to this tournament getting underway. With no competitive pressure on them you’d like to think that St Kitts and Nevis will come out all guns blazing with the bat too.
The sixes line is 14.5 for this one and when you consider that Trinbago hit 250 against this bowling unit earlier in the competition and the Patriots replied with more than 200 of their own, we know these two can combine for high scoring matches. I don’t think this ground is that big and unlike what we saw at the Queens Park Oval, this ground is more exposed so the wind comes into play and assists big shots with the wind. There is too much attacking batting talent for me not to play the over here.
Tips
Back Over 14.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Betway
