The second set of matches in the new Caribbean Premier League season conclude with another double header of action in Trinidad on Thursday and it begins with the St Lucia Zouks taking on the Barbados Tridents in the latest CPL 2020 outing for both sides.
These two teams had very different outcomes in their first match of the campaign with Barbados getting their title defence up and running in style while the Zouks when down in their opening encounter. It will be interesting to see if that form is maintained here or does a U-turn.
St Lucia Zouks
The Zouks were probably just outmatched rather than anything against the Jamaica Tallawahs in their opening match. They weren’t perfect but you wouldn’t have expected them to be with most of their players having not stepped onto a competitive cricket field for the better part of six months. The only thing they did wrong really was not maximising their score after setting their innings up pretty well. From the position they got into they should really have made 170 rather than mid-150s.
Not getting to that total didn’t really give themselves much of a hope of defending with the ball against a powerful Jamaica Tallawahs bowling attack. They will either need their top three to get them off to a better start here or just be a little braver to ensure that they maximise their output with the bat. The other thing they could do is work their bowlers a little better as Zahir Khan looked all at sea and ineffective with the new ball.
Barbados Tridents
Given that everything seemed to be against them in their opening match, the Barbados Tridents will be delighted to have come out on top against the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. They know there is a lot more to come from them so the fact they got that victory when all was against them and they were nowhere near their best will give them a lot of confidence. You would think there is going to be a natural improvement after a run out to blow away the cobwebs.
To be fair to the Tridents, it was only really with the bat where they need to make the adjustments and get better. They ended up with a defendable score but they won’t want their bottom order having to drag themselves out of a hole very often. It isn’t as though they haven’t got quality in their top order so I expect them to be fine. They just need to make sure someone takes responsibility to get them up to a score rather than all going gung-ho and ending up in a hole.
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Key Men
Roston Chase has been pigeonholed as a Test match cricketer but he showed against the Jamaica Tallawahs that he can play the shorter format as well. It will be interesting to see if that performance against Jamaica was a one-off or can be backed up.
Mitchell Santner was given the man of the match award for the Barbados Tridents in their first game win but it was their captain Jason Holder who got both the innings firing for the defending champions. He could be vital once again here.
Betting
It is Jason Holder who is the focus of my bet for this match because I like his performance here. The line is 30.5 which feels on the low side for a man who in the first game that the Barbados Tridents played batted at five and took the new ball. Admittedly he didn’t take a wicket with the new nut but he did everything but pick up a scalp, and I would expect sides to have watched this Barbados team and look to target him knowing that the plethora of spin options are not going to be easy to get after.
That will give the Tridents captain the chance to pick up wickets a little more freely than he might expect and with points coming naturally with the bat, and possibly in the field where he will be in key positions on the boundary, not just as captain but because he’s a huge target to hit over, I really expect him to cover this total. He covered it with the bat alone in the first game but with the scoring potential elsewhere I’ve got to think he is just as likely to cover it again here. Holder scored 60 and 50 points against the Zouks last season so this line looks too low.
Tips
VOID – Back J.Holder’s Performance – Over 30.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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