The Caribbean Premier League rolls into Guyana for the first time in the CPL 2024 season on Friday night when the champions Guyana Amazon Warriors look to cement their spot in the finals when they host the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
St Kitts and Nevis have two matches left but already they are out of qualifying contention so they will be looking to play the role of spoilers to the Guyana party. A Guyana win here will have them looking up over their last four matches.
Guyana Amazon Warriors
The Guyana Amazon Warriors will not only secure their spot in the finals with a win here but they would move up to second in the table and with every match that they play from here on in being on their home ground you would have to think that they are in a perfect spot to push on and make a serious tilt at defending their title. They have won three of their five matches so far but this is their opening home game so they have a brilliant platform to build on.
Guyana go into the home leg of their season off the back of a defeat last time out when their batters had little answer to the spinners of the Trinbago Knight Riders but their bowlers so nearly got them out of a hole. That was the first time that their batting has failed to deliver over the course of the season and in the first game at Providence the Amazon Warriors batting will be expected to deliver. If it does then there is more than enough in their bowling unit to get the job done.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots
There was a lot of excitement around the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots going into the season but they haven’t come out of the starting blocks at all and even now with a third of the regular campaign left to play they can no longer make it through to the finals even were they to win their last two matches. That is a poor reflection on them because even with the injuries that they have had they have more than enough within their ranks to be a whole lot better than that.
The big problem for the Patriots is they just haven’t been able to stem the flow of runs against them even though they have a number of quality operators with the ball. When their bowling starts to go around the park there is seemingly nothing they can do to stem the flow. That has put pressure on their batting which has grossly underperformed as a unit throughout the tournament with little to nothing coming outside of their top four often enough to be a help.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THE CARIBBEAN PREMIER LEAGUE! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Key Players
Romario Shepherd is now back to fitness and he showed his importance to the Guyana Amazon Warriors cause in the last game when his batting down the order gave his side something to bowl at. Ultimately it wasn’t enough but without him they would have been in trouble.
Andre Fletcher has started to perform with the bat for the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. That is needed because it always helps when a captain is scoring runs but some of his decisions in the field have been questionable which has been a problem.
Betting
It might not be ideal that the Guyana Amazon Warriors have lost their last two matches but one of the ones they won before then was a demolition job on the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and I would be surprised if they don’t do another job on the Patriots in this match. Since that opening meeting where St Kitts and Nevis conceded a ridiculous 266/7, the Patriots have got worse with the bat and I would wager that Guyana have gotten stronger with the ball.
I’m a little surprised that the handicap line here is as low as 3.5 wickets or 9.5 runs because there looks to be a much bigger gulf between these two teams than that. The only thing I can really give the Patriots hope with is that Guyana only played two days ago but even then I don’t think that will serve them well. There just looks to be a huge difference between these sides and I expect Guyana Amazon Warriors to underline that with a big win here.
Tips
Back Guyana Amazon Warriors (-3.5wickets/9.5runs) to beat St Kitts and Nevis Patriots for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
