The new season of the Caribbean Premier League begins on Wednesday night and it does so at the home ground of the defending champions as the Trinbago Knight Riders take on the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots at the Queens Park Oval.
These two sides had different campaigns last term, but that is in the past and it will be all about the here and now for both of them as they look to get the new season off to a winning start. All eyes will be on Trinbago to see how equipped they look for a title defence.
Trinbago Knight Riders
This is not unchartered territory for the Trinbago Knight Riders as they played the season opener last year as they went about defending their title. They came out on top to the tune of 100 runs and they are pretty warm favourites to be the winners of this one too. They look the best side in the competition on paper but we shouldn’t forget that they have lost some powerful players since last season which could be significant.
Chris Lynn, Brendon McCullum and Fawad Ahmad have all left since the title winning days of last season so that is a lot of runs and wickets that they need to replace. Kieron Pollard has been signed to plug some of that but there is an easy and correct case to be made for them not being quite as strong as last year, even allowing for the fact that a couple of players have the potential to step up and improve.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots
The St Kitts and Nevis Patriots are a bit of a weird case. On paper they have had a decent look about them in the last few seasons but when it has come to putting that strength into practice in matches they have been found wanting more than they would have liked. They did at least make the second qualifier last season where they were beaten by their opponents in this match. Revenge could be the key word based on that.
It isn’t just the Trinbago outfit who have lost players in the close season. St Kitts and Nevis have lost arguably the biggest of the lot as Chris Gayle has gone back home to Jamaica. Top wicket taker Ben Cutting has also departed so the Patriots are also going to have to make up for the absence of a couple of big men from last season. They do at least have little to lose in this one with it being their away match.
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Team News
Kieron Pollard is going to skipper the Knight Riders in this match as Dwayne Bravo has been ruled out having picked up a thumb problem. Darren Bravo was a concussion victim in the Test match recently and may not be allowed to play either.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots will now be led by Carlos Brathwaite and are expected to give a debut to Mohammad Hafeez. Laurie Evans joins later in the tournament but Evin Lewis is in place. Sheldon Cottrell leads the way with the ball.
Betting
It is a little bit early to be making bold predictions in this tournament but I look down this St Kitts and Nevis Patriots batting line up and I’m not seeing a huge amount of big hitters if I’m honest. If you take Evin Lewis and Carlos Brathwaite out of the equation there isn’t a lot there so they could be vulnerable when it comes to the six hitting department.
Trinbago Knight Riders may well be without a couple of their better options in the Bravo brothers while Colin Munro is still in Sri Lanka which is not ideal for them, but in Pollard, Narine, Ramdin and Simmons they have played who can still crack a long ball. I think the 4/5 on the home side hitting the most sixes is the way forward in this one.
Tips
Back Trinbago Knight Riders Most 6s for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Betway
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