Queen’s Park pitch in focus as Warriors battle Patriots today
Both captains of the respective teams expressed their sentiments regarding the Queen’s Park Oval pitch. Warriors captain Chris Green said it was a tough surface to bat spin, while the more vocal Rayad Emrit expressed his disappointment on social platform Facebook.
Rayad Emrit celebrates a wicket against Warriors
These two teams, which have three wins between themselves and are at the root of the points table, will meet from 14:15 hours today, Sunday (August 30).
Patriots are at the bottom of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) points table with one win. The batting has been a liability to the Patriots, with only Ben Dunk and Evin Lewis scoring over 100 runs. Lewis, who slammed a brilliant 89, has 161 runs, while Dunk, who played in five matches, scored 123 runs.
While the other teams can boast of the quality of their international spinners, Patriots have as their spinners two local spinners and Ish Sodhi who played only three matches.
The Patriots captain Emrit had earlier said the fast-bowling group is strong but the pitches are not offering much for his quicks. Emrit is the leading wicket-taker for his team, with seven scalps while local lads Imran Khan and Jon Russ Jagesar have each taken four wickets. The veteran left-arm seamer Sohail Tanvir, a former Amazon Warrior, has taken five wickets.
Evin Lewis had one solid innings thus far
After six matches, Shimron Hetmyer is the Warriors’ only player to have surpassed 150 runs, having thus far scored 169; while Ross Taylor, demoted to number five, has scored 113. Nicholas Pooran has thus far contributed 106 runs, while other batsmen who scored heavily last season are yet to surpass 100 runs in the six outings.
Veteran leggie Imran Tahir has been impressive with the ball. Cricket’s senior statesman has thus far taken 11 wickets at a stunning average of 14.00 and an economy rate of 6.41.
Ben Dunk
With the surfaces being suitable for spin, Tahir will be more dangerous as the tournament progresses. Emrit will be looking to play more spinners in his starting XI as they seek to record a win over the inconsistent Warriors team this season.
