The Caribbean Premier League heads into the second half of the group phase with a double header on Saturday evening and the opening match of the two is the first from Barbados as the Barbados Tridents host the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
It has been a quiet start to the campaign for Barbados but they have two wins from their first three matches. St Kitts and Nevis have two wins as well although they have played an extra game. Both these sides have matches in hand and will be in a good position with a win.
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Barbados Tridents
You could argue that the Barbados Tridents are slightly fortunate to have two wins to their name because how the Jamaica Tallawahs didn’t chase down a modest total against them a few nights ago I’m sure most people are still trying to work out. That match was systematic of Barbados’ start to the season in that they are yet to truly bat brilliantly as a whole unit.
One reason for that is the make up of their side. There are an awful lot of players in their ranks who want to open the batting and they are generally star names too so it is hard to leave them out. They will hope a return home will get their batting firing and if it does we’ve seen their bowling attack can deliver the goods.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots
After a pretty tame defeat in Jamaica which was followed by a fairly lengthy break by T20 standards the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots look to have got themselves going with a brutal beating of the St Lucia Stars last time out. They shot the Stars out for 69 and although they weren’t wholly convincing they did their net run rate the world of good in the process.
Getting their whole batting unit firing will be the issue for the Patriots both in this match and going forward. They have a couple of big names at the top of the order who don’t look in form but you only need to club a few away to be back in nick in this format. On the flip side their bowlers look to be improving all the time.
Team News
A number of Pakistan players have left this competition or are leaving in the coming days so it will be interesting to see if Wahab Riaz has permission to play. If he has then Barbados could be unchanged unless they look to manage their batsmen better.
Sandeep Lamichhane is leaving in the near future for the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots with Rassie van der Dussen coming in to replace him. That may be their only change after a thoroughly convincing win last time out.
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Betting
The Kensington Oval is usually a good wicket to bat on and we saw in the Test match here that there is plenty of pace and bounce in the track so I’m expecting the batsmen to enjoy themselves here. Neither of these sides have a mystery spinner which have been the issue for both top orders so far in the competition so the runs should really flow and with that should come a lot of sixes. 14.5 is a fairly low line for this ground and with the amount of hitting power on show in the two sides I think that will be covered nicely.
I remain convinced that we are going to see some fireworks from Nicholas Pooran in this tournament at some point so it makes sense to keep on taking him to be the top Barbados batsman. He is 10/1 but if he is sent up the order like he was in their second game that will be too big a price. I’ll give him another go.
Tips
WON – Back Over 14.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with 888sport
Back it here:
Back N.Pooran Top Barbados Tridents Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 11.00 with Boylesports
Back him here:
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