It will only be the 14th match of this year’s Hero Caribbean Premier League Tournament and the St. Kitts and
Shoaib Malik
Nevis Patriots find themselves in a worrying position as they take on Barbados Tridents tonight at the Kensington Oval. The Patriots have had a lean run since their first match against the Guyana Amazon Warriors and find themselves in a worrying position, where they must win to keep their hopes alive of reaching the playoffs.
The guys in black have managed just one win from five matches and must return a sterling performance to secure a win tonight and build confidence for future proceedings. It is not expected to be an easy task if they are to win against the Tridents, but must execute a strategic performance if they are to do.
On paper the Patriots looks a very good team with the likes of captain Faf du Plesis, Lendl Simmons, Brad Hodge, Evin Lewis, Devon Thomas, Thisara Perera, Samuel Badree, Tabraiz Shamsi and Krishmar Santokie in its batting and bowling departments. However, their performances to date have shown otherwise, losing four of their five matches by comprehensive margins.
It seems a case of having the right unit but failing to execute on match days. The shifting around of the batting lineup has also been a matter of concern, with batsmen not being able to settle at a fixed position. Though the batting rotation may be obvious due to the stage of the match, it seems to be a worrying factor which is hampering the players’ performances.
Besides the game against St. Lucia Zouks where they recorded their only win, the Patriots openers have failed to set the tempo for the others to carry on the innings to competitive totals. It is either a Simmon’s or Lewis’ day, there is no compatibility between them. Maybe the coaching staff should opt for a Lewis and Kieran Powell combination and have Simmons bat at three, pushing du Plesis, who has failed so far, to bat at four. Thomas has been in knick but his lone performance is never going to be enough because of where he bats and the state of the game when he enters the crease.
Once Thomas is going to bat at five then there is no need for Hodge in the team, if the Australian is not batting in the top five then he should not be playing. Due to Jonathan Carter’s ability to bowl medium fast, he and Perera can fill number six and seven interchangeably. And with the absence of Carlos Braithwaite, they can now play four genuine bowlers in Badree, Shamsi, Santokie and Tino Best. In this case they should not have many issues with the batting and a more instrumental bowling attack, than in previous encounters.
Head to head the Patriots holds the advantage over the Tridents, with two wins against the Tridents one. So, withstanding their recent loss which is also their only loss to the Tridents, the Patriots will be optimistic of a win.
However, if the Patriots do not get their structure organized then they can easily be beaten by the Tridents, who will be playing at home tonight. Like the Patriots, the Tridents have recorded just one win so far, but have only played two matches while the other match was a no-result against Jamaica Tallawahs.
Having won the last battle between the two sides, it is expected the Tridents will enter the field a bit more confident than the Patriots. One would think that the Tridents will field the same team like they did against Jamaica Tallawahs, since they will be playing at the same venue.
The Tridents will rely on its main players, mainly AB de Villiers, Kieron Pollard, Shoaib Malik, Nocholas Pooran, Ravi Rampaul and Steven Taylor to ensure they win this match.
Tonight promises to be a tough and exhilarating encounter with both teams looking to score a second win. However, the winners will depend on the team which executes best.
Barbados Tridents Squad: Kieron Pollard (captain), AB de Villiers, Shoaib Malik, Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Rampaul, Jason Holder, David Wiese, Robin Peterson, Raymon Reifer, Ashley Nurse, Wayne Parnell, Akeal Hosein, Imran Khan, Kyle Hope, Navin Stewart, Kyle Corbin, Steven Taylor, Shemar Springer.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots; Faf du Plesis (Captain); Lendl Simmons; Samuel Badree; Brad Hodge; Thisara Perera; Jonathan Carter; Krishmar Santokie; Evin Lewis; Tabraiz Shamsi; Kieran Powell; JJ Smuts; Devon Thomas; Shamarh Brooks; Tino Best; Jeremiah Louis; Nikhil Dutta; Alzarri Joseph and Carlos Braithwaite.
