The final regular season game of the Caribbean Premier League to be held in the West Indies takes place on Tuesday night when the St Lucia Zouks take on the Trinbago Knight Riders in another match that is huge for both sides.
The Zouks can go level with Guyana in second place with the Florida double header to come should they win here while Trinbago have fallen outside the top four which means they have to win here to get back in them else their playoff destiny will be out of their own hands.
St Lucia Zouks
Once again St Lucia showed against Guyana in their previous game just how good an all-round side they are. Not for the first time in this tournament their bowlers put the skids on the opposition run flow especially at the death where the addition of Jerome Taylor is proving very useful and then with the bat they showed no fear and cruised to victory.
That made it three wins from three on their home ground and a fourth one here would have them in excellent shape going to Florida. David Miller and Morne Morkel have now left and gone home but St Lucia didn’t miss them too much on Sunday and they will hope they don’t miss them here.
Trinbago Knight Riders
It has been eight days since the Knight Riders last played a match in this tournament and we saw with Guyana at the weekend that lengthy breaks aren’t always the best thing in this format. It has given them time to assess where they have been going wrong ahead of one last push but since then Hashim Amla has left and he leaves a huge hole.
Amla was the leading run scorer for the Trinbago side in this competition this season and his absence means that only Colin Munro and Dwayne Bravo have more than 100 runs for the campaign in this batting line up so someone will have to stand up and be counted if the defending champions are to get the win they need.
Betting
The money has really come for Trinbago in the lead up to this match but I’m in no rush to take on Darren Sammy’s St Lucia Zouks just yet. Hashim Amla is a big loss for Trinbago Knight Riders especially with the scratchy form of Brendon McCullum this season.
If there is a glimmer of hope for the defending champions it comes in the form of the square in St Lucia just starting to look a little tired on Sunday but there has been two days to revive it since and with this being the last match on the ground this season I’m expecting a decent wicket for some good quality cricket.
If that is the case then St Lucia can negate Sunil Narine and their all-round skills and powerful batting can see them over the line for a clean sweep of home wins on the season.
Tips
Back St Lucia Zouks to beat Trinbago Knight Riders for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfred
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