The Caribbean Premier League season heads to the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad on Tuesday for the last match of the competition prior to Saturday’s final as the Barbados Tridents take on the Trinbago Knight Riders in Qualifier 2.
The Knight Riders will be looking to take their title defence right down to the last possible match while the Barbados Tridents will be eyeing up a place in their first final since they were beaten in 2015.
Barbados Tridents
You would have to say the Barbados Tridents put up their worst performance of the season at literally the worst time on Sunday. The good thing for them is they had the beauty of knowing that they had two bites of the cherry but that luxury has gone now and it is do or die cricket for them. It goes without saying that they will need a dramatic improvement if they are to come through this match but every team can be excused a poor day at the office.
The big surprise about their performance in Qualifier 1 was that their bowling was horrific, truly bad. That has been the area of their team which has been by far the best for them over the course of the campaign and if they are going to start struggling all of a sudden, then they could be in trouble. They still have few signs of getting it together with the bat, so they are going to have to bowl well to progress.
Trinbago Knight Riders
You have to give credit to the Trinbago Knight Riders. They looked like their title defence was going to end meekly when they finished the regular season with just one win in their last seven matches. Usually that sort of form wouldn’t even get you into the postseason but it did, and they recovered from their slump to come through a knockout match against a St Kitts and Nevis Patriots side who never really got going on the day.
The power batting of the Trinbago Knight Riders is looking to come to the fore once again and immediately the return of Sunil Narine pepped up their bowling attack, so the defending champions have gone from rightly being written off, to being contenders once again, especially when you factor in that they are on home soil for as long as they remain in the competition.
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Team News
The Barbados Tridents might decide they need to freshen things up. Harry Gurney had a horror show in the last game but he has enough credit in the bank to get another game. Whether Raymon Reifer can say the same remains to be seen.
Kieron Pollard left the field during the Trinbago Knight Riders last match but he came back and contributed with the bat so as long as he has suffered no after effects of that, the defending champions are likely to be unchanged.
Betting
I think at the prices the bet here has to be for the Barbados Tridents to come through this match. They were the better team of the two in the regular season and won both matches against the Trinbago Knight Riders and did so with a fair bit in hand it has to be said. I understand that doesn’t really count for a lot from here on in, in terms of they still need to perform here but the confidence of knowing you can beat this opponent should never be underestimated.
Trinbago performed much better when they had to at the weekend and that was encouraging for them but I don’t believe Barbados are going to bowl as terribly again and even allowing for how badly they bowled it took a special innings to beat them. I always had Barbados as the team to watch in the second half of the season and while I think whoever wins this loses the final, I think it can be the Tridents who will give themselves a shot at glory.
Tips
WON – Back Barbados Tridents to beat Trinbago Knight Riders for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with 888sport
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