The Caribbean Premier League is back on Tuesday night after a day off on Monday and it returns with the final match of the CPL 2024 season at the Kensington Oval as the Barbados Royals conclude their home leg against the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
This is a top against bottom clash with the Royals guaranteeing themselves a spot in the top four at the end of the season with a win. The Patriots need to come out on top to keep their playoff hopes alive so this is a key game.
Barbados Royals
The Barbados Royals are sitting in a very good position at the halfway mark of their season having won four of their five matches and if they can win here then they will have secured their spot in the finals with four away matches still to play and then they can play with a bit of pressure off and look to secure a top two finish which would give them a second crack at making the final should they require it. They also have the motivation of wanting to finish off their home leg of the tournament positively too.
Barbados haven’t really done anything spectacular this season but they are just a very good side. If there is a concern it is that they have only scored more than 160 with the bat on one occasion but the flip side of that is that they don’t need to plunder the runs because by and large their bowling attack has been very good. They have two very tough spinners to get away and a couple of clever seamers and that takes the pressure off of the batters, although I’m sure the Royals bowlers would like more 200 scores like in their last game to make their lives a little easier.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots
This has been a dire season for the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and defeat here will all but end it as a competitive entity. They have to win their last three matches and hope it is enough to sneak into the top four but there is nothing that we have seen so far that would suggest that is unlikely. The Patriots have been unlucky with some injuries and a couple of other things going against them but ultimately it is now just two wins in their last 15 completed matches.
Whatever happens between now and the end of the season you would expect something will give ahead of the next campaign but for not St Kitts and Nevis need to find a way to keep their season alive with a win here. If that is going to happen then they need to find a way to bowl much better for the full 20 overs. They have one or two bowlers that they can rely on but the others are going around the park way too much. Their batting is beginning to creek a little too although that is where injuries aren’t helping.
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Key Players
Quinton de Kock is now the leading run scorer in the competition after his century last time out and if he can plunder this Patriots new ball attack things could unravel quickly for the visitors and Barbados might find winning their last home match gets much more comfortable.
Wanindu Hasaranga continues to impress for the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and his figures look all the more remarkable when you see what his colleagues deliver. He is more than useful with the bat as well so the Sri Lankan needs to go well here.
Betting
The Barbados Royals batting is warming to the task nicely at the minute and there is nothing in the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots bowling unit with the exception of Wanindu Hasaranga that suggests that they are going to slow down now. That makes me think that their sixes line is attainable. Clearly the issue could be St Kitts and Nevis batting first and not putting up much of a score but they have the batters to take advantage of the conditions here and even if they don’t the Barbados top order is in such good form it might not matter.
The reverse meeting between these two saw Barbados hit eight sixes when St Kitts and Nevis only posted 153 and you wouldn’t think they would score much less here given the good batting conditions in Barbados. In that innings for the Royals, Dunith Wellalage inexplicably came in at number five and scored 39 without a six. He isn’t likely to bat as high here so sixes should come much more naturally. Barbados have hit four in a rain affected innings on this ground along with totals of nine and 16 so they are hitting big and should have nine more in them here.
Tips
Back Barbados Royals – Over 8.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with BetVictor
