The new Caribbean Premier League season rolls into St Kitts for the first time on Saturday night as the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots play their first home match of the CPL 2024 campaign when they host the Trinbago Knight Riders.
The Patriots fell over the line in their opening match but got the win on the board and they will be looking for a second in as many matches here. Trinbago start out a campaign in which they were the pre-tournament favourites and can lay a marker down in this one.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots
The St Kitts and Nevis Patriots were my idea of potential tournament winners heading into the campaign and while I wasn’t completely convinced by their performance in the first game, you can never criticise a team for winning and especially on that occasion where players have been away with West Indies until a couple of days prior to their opening match. You would think they are racing certainties to come on for the run and even more so now that they are on home soil for a period of time.
The Patriots looked like they were cruising to victory in that opening match but then they suffered a serious wobble with the bat as the finish line approached. They got over the line so it didn’t cost them but that is something they will need to rectify moving forward. They were also a little exposed with the ball in the early part of the innings and any slackness in that department here would not go unpunished so that natural improvement having had a competitive outing will be needed here.
Trinbago Knight Riders
The Trinbago Knight Riders were pretty warm favourites for the tournament heading into it. Some were saying this was the best squad that has ever been assembled in the history of this event and certainly on reputation and perhaps past glories in some cases that might be the case but they still need to perform in the here and now and not leave it to each other to get over the line and find out that nobody was able to do it.
The one thing you would say about the Knight Riders is that they are an aging side but there is a lot of power in their batting and it is hard to see all of them failing at the same time. Even if they do there is sufficient quality with the ball for them to get the job done even if their batting doesn’t explode into life in the way that we know it can. The only genuine cause for concern for the Knight Riders heading into this match is that this is their first outing in the tournament and one or two might need the run.
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
Evin Lewis looked like he was about to threaten to show West Indies what they missed when they left him out of their World Cup squad earlier in the year but just as he started ticking he got out. The Patriots will want the full array of fireworks from him here.
Nicholas Pooran is a pretty obvious pick for the key player for the Trinbago Knight Riders. He might well be the most dangerous batter in the game right now and generally when he gets himself in he causes carnage when he has the bat in hand.
Betting
I think we know what we are going to get here at Warner Park. This is a really small ground by any circumstances really but especially by Caribbean venue sizes and as ever in this part of the world there is often a breeze which will make one side of the ground play even shorter. The pitch here is usually fantastic for batting as well so if we are expecting anything other than a high scoring match and the ball flying to all parts I think we are getting it wrong!
There are useful bowlers on both sides but I have to be with the batters here. There are some brutal hitters of a cricket ball on show here in the likes of Evin Lewis, Andre Fletcher, Kyle Mayers, Odean Smith, Tristan Stubbs, Rilee Rossouw, Jason Roy, Sunil Narine, Nicholas Pooran, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell and probably others on top of that. While there are some useful bowlers there is so much firepower that I expect the sixes to flow all night on a ground which is nowhere near big enough to contain the power that is on show.
Tips
Back Over 16.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with BetVictor
