As one T20 tournament reaches its latter stages, another one kicks off in the early hours of Thursday morning when the 2019 season of the Caribbean Premier League gets underway. Big celebrations, big hits and the biggest party in the world make this a great tournament and this has the potential to be the best season yet.
Trinbago Knight Riders retained the title last season and will be looking to win it for a third year in a row. Five other franchises will be looking to dethrone them in what is always an enjoyable five and a bit weeks.
Recent Winners
2018 – Trinbago Knight Riders
2017 – Trinbago Knight Riders
2016 – Jamaica Tallawahs
2015 – Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel
2014 – Barbados Tridents
2013 – Jamaica Tallawahs
The Format
The six teams in action in the tournament play each other at home and away in the first stage of the competition. The top four at the end of the regular season go through to the play-offs with the first game seeing the top two meeting for a direct place in the final while the third and fourth placed side play a knockout match. The losers of that first game meets the winner of the second game for the other spot in the final. The champion then comes from the final which this year is on October 12.
The Teams
Trinbago Knight Riders have dominated this tournament in recent times and when you think they have added the St Lucia Stars captain Kieron Pollard to their ranks for this season there is an obvious case to be made that they are even stronger this time around, even with the retirement of Brendon McCullum costing them his inclusion. With the Bravo brothers, Sunil Narine, Lendl Simmons and Khary Pierre as well as overseas quality in Jimmy Neesham, Colin Munro and Mohammad Hasnain, they look the team to beat once again and seem worthy 2/1 favourites.
The Jamaica Tallawahs can never be ruled out of the reckoning in this competition, especially now they have matched the insane hitting ability of Andre Russell with the local hero Chris Gayle. With Chadwick Walton, Glenn Phillips and Rovman Powell also in their line up they are well stocked with the bat. The same can’t really be said for their depth with the ball, which looks a clear weakness for them. That said though, if they make it through and can chase in the postseason they could beat anyone. They look about the right price at 7/2 mind you.
The third favourites for the tournament are the Barbados Tridents. They could be ones to follow later in the competition rather than taking their early 9/2 price. I say that because they are the last team to play their home leg and generally home advantage is a big thing in this tournament. Alex Hales will be around for the second half of the tournament and he’ll need to go well because the Tridents do look like with the bat with only really Shai Hope and Johnson Charles as out and out batsmen until he arrives. They do have plenty of good bowling options though so they could be ones to keep an eye on.
The Guyana Amazon Warriors were beaten in the final last year but excitement is growing around their chances after they secured the addition of Nicholas Pooran, who could well come into his own in Guyana. He joins the classy pair of Shimron Hetmyer and Sherfane Rutherford to offer up good batting options while Brandon King and Shoaib Malik offer a good experienced glue around them. Imran Tahir and Qais Ahmed should be extremely effective in home conditions as well so there is a lot to like about the Amazon Warriors in this tournament at the 11/2 mark.
The St Lucia side are back to being the St Lucia Zouks after their off field problems and they will hope to put a smile back on the faces of their fans on the field with their performances. There is a strong case to be made that they have the best set of bowling options in the competition with the likes of Fawad Ahmad, Hardus Viljoen and Darren Sammy all full of experience. Obed McCoy, Kesrick Williams, Rakheem Cornwall and Krishmar Santokie all have international cricket under their belts too. The flip side of that, and probably the reason they are 8/1 to win this thing is there is a question over where runs might come from. If they do find some runs from somewhere they could be dangerous.
The other side in the field are the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. They will be without Chris Gayle for this season which is an immediate hit to their chances but while they don’t look the best side in the competition, there is no reason why they shouldn’t be relatively competitive over the course of it. In Carlos Brathwaite they have a solid captain while Alzarri Joseph, Fabian Allen, Evin Lewis and Sheldon Cottrell have all played for the West Indies this year. Laurie Evans could be an exciting prospect while Devon Thomas is an underrated cricketer. There are worse 10/1 pokes around but I don’t see them winning the tournament.
Betting
It wasn’t going to take a huge amount of improvement for the Guyana Amazon Warriors to go one better than they went last season but in Nicholas Pooran they have made a big addition to their side. Admittedly they have lost their second highest run scorer from last season in Luke Ronchi but Pooran is a huge upgrade on him. Sohail Tanvir is the other man who had a big impression last season who isn’t returning but other than clobbering a few down the order Ben Laughlin offers much of what he did.
I think the 11/2 on the Amazon Warriors is worth taking here. They have reached the final of this competition in four of the six seasons it has taken place and probably have their best squad for this renewal. Trinbago are going to be hard to stop but if there is a side out there who can do it then it may well be the side they beat in the final last year. I’ll take Guyana to finally get over the line here.
Tips
Back Guyana Amazon Warriors to win CPL 2019 for a 2/10 stake at 6.50 with Coral
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Nice write up, looking forward to 1st game