The Caribbean Premier League (CPL), dubbed as the biggest party in sport, bowled off on Wednesday in St Lucia with the opening game of the tournament’s 11th edition featuring the defending champions Jamaica Tallawahs (JT) coming up against the home team St Lucia Kings (SLK).
Once again, all the teams appear to be evenly balanced and it will be extremely difficult to predict a winner. Last year, the Tallawahs finished a disappointing fourth after the league stage but played their best cricket in the playoffs and finished top of the heap when all seemed lost for them going into the playoff stage. The Tallawahs, who won the inaugural tournament in 2013 when they defeated the Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) in the final at the Queen’s Park Oval were also successful in the 2016 season.
Unfortunately, JT has lost captain Rovman Powell who, I thought, not only performed well with the bat but also led his team astutely. Interestingly, Brandon King has been handed the captaincy and the question is will that help him be more responsible in his approach not only with his batting but with his overall tactical approach to T20 cricket? His batting is going to be the key to setting the tone of the innings together with Alex Hales. I liked the look of Kirk Mc Kenzie in the red ball format but the white ball format may see him getting into bad habits when batting. He should play intelligently when given the opportunity.
Stalwarts like Shamarh Brooks and Jermaine Blackwood have to bolster the middle-order batting to ensure they get good totals. They are blessed with some good allrounders in Fabian Allen, Imad Wasim and Chris Green while much will depend on Mohammad Amir with the new ball. Their batting seems to be their weak point and they will be hard-pressed to retain their title.
The Barbados Royals (BR), previously known as the Barbados Tridents, won the title twice; in 2014 and again in 2019. They have secured the services of Rovman Powell to captain the franchise, however, like JT, they too look thin with specialist batsmen. They have the exciting Alick Athanaze and Kyle Mayers to anchor the batting but the bowling is where they have real strength. They have a number of exciting bowlers like Akeem Jordan and Ramon Simmonds, who, together with Jason Holder and Obed McCoy, could create problems for all the batting teams. I expect them to get into the playoffs but I remain uncertain whether or not the quality of their batting is enough for them to win the tournament.
The perennial bridesmaid GAW is another team that has changed leadership and another South African veteran, Imran Tahir, has been thrust into the leadership role. His experience will stand him in good stead but never having led a franchise before is going to be a huge shift for the exuberant leg spinner and his ability to lead will be tested. They got off to a bad start in 2022 and much will depend on the consistent batting of Shimron Hetmyer, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shai Hope and Mohammed Haris throughout the tournament for them to get good scores. Once again, they are loaded with allrounders and like the other teams, their bowling will win them games but if they start as badly this year as they did last year, they may not make the playoffs and yet again not win the tournament.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots (SKNP), who won the tournament once in 2021 but failed to qualify for the playoffs last year has one of the better batting lineups this year. Being led for the first time by Evin Lewis was a surprise to me as I honestly do not know much about his tactical awareness and his ability to lead. However, he has some good, level-headed players around him like the veteran Ambati Rayudu and young Joshua Da Silva. If Lewis leads from the front together with Andre Fletcher, Sherfane Rutherford and the exciting Dewald Brevis and Rayadu, they are quite capable of large totals. Their bowling with Dominic Drakes, Sheldon Cottrell and spinners Ashmead Nedd and Kofi James can dismiss teams for below their total. I expect them to do well this year and can be a very real contender to win the tournament.
St Lucia Kings (SLK), the only other team along with GAW to never have won the CPL title is led by the evergreen and dangerous 39-year-old Faf du Plessis. This is another team that has a few match-winners in it. In addition to the captain Johnson Charles, who always does well with this franchise, the experienced Zimbabwean captain Sean Williams on his day can score quick runs. The bowling will be well led by Alzarri Joseph and youngster Matthew Forde. Khary Pierre, Roston Chase and Sikandar Raza are also in the lineup to give St Lucia Kings a lovely looking allround feel to it. I expect them to go all the way to the final and with the experience of du Plessis at the helm, they can win it.
The everlasting favourites, the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR), who have won the title an incredible four times, more than any other team, will again start as firm favourites. Ably led by the aggressive Kieron Pollard, the TKR finished last in 2022 but arguably has the best all-round team in the tournament and if they don’t finish at the top, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that they would have terribly underperformed. A team that consists of the batting talent of the most gifted T20 batsmen in international cricket such as Nicholas Pooran supported by the veterans Martin Guptill and Chadwick Walton together with the explosive Andre Russell, Pollard himself, the other veteran Dwayne Bravo, who is back with the TKR and Sunil Narine, they have tremendous depth in their batting. Narine will spearhead the attack and together with Akeal Hosein and Bravo, they have the ability to make life uncomfortable for opposing batsmen. After last year's inept performance, Bravo and Pollard would be looking to give their many fans something to cheer about again, especially at the Queen’s Park Oval where the atmosphere is electric on a CPL T20 game night.
It is always difficult to predict T20 cricket as on their day, whichever team performs can bring home the bacon and if a team falls behind the eight ball early in a game, it is always difficult to play catch up. My neck is not as long as a giraffe, however, I believe this is going to be the year SLK break their duck followed by the TKR, the SKNP and the BR in that order. Enjoy the biggest party in sport!
Editor’s note: The views expressed in the preceding article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of any organisation of which he is a stakeholder.
