Dwayne Bravo will once again be central to Trinbago Knight Riders' chances in CPL 2016. © Cricaction
The caravan of T20 leagues moves to the West Indian islands as reigning champions Trinbago Knight Riders begin their Caribbean Premier League title defence on Wednesday (July 29) against Darren Sammy's St. Lucia Zouks at the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
With only four wins from 14 games in the first two seasons, followed by a fifth placed finish last year, St Lucia Zouks have, thus far, failed to break the consistency of failures. On paper, they boast of some of the finest T20 players, besides the only two-time World T20 winning skipper - Sammy. However, in a young man's game, most of their key players - Sammy, Shane Watson, Michael Hussey, Morne Morkel, Denesh Ramdin, Grant Elliot and Shane Shillingford - are over the age of 30.
Taking on one of the best sides in the tournament, the Zouks have their work cut out and will have to make the most of the experience on offer. What works in their favour, however, is the lack of expectation, with Betfair placing the odds at 23/20 on them as compared to 4/6 on their counterparts.
However despite all of that, beating the defending champions will take some doing. In Brendon McCullum, Sunil Narine and Dwayne Bravo, the hosts have, arguably, the best T20 batsman, bowler and all-rounder respectively in their ranks. Apart from McCullum, the Knight Riders also managed to get Hashim Amla in their side to boost the foreign reserve.
Besides the the star attractions, CPL will also serve as a good platform to take note of the players who will be making their transition from the Under-19 World Cup-winning team to top class cricket. The big-hitting Gidron Pope, who plays for the Zouks and who played a key role in Bangladesh, will be one such player to watch out for.
When: Trinbago Knight Riders vs St Lucia Zouks, June 29, 9:00 PM local time (June 30, 6:30 AM IST)
Where: Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad
What to expect: A quick-of-the-blocks start to the league.With most players involved in T20 action since the turn of the year, there will be no dearth of format specific match practice.
What they said
"I'm very happy we've pinned down McCullum. He's one of the world's most dangerous players and a few years ago, when we were both playing for Chennai (Super Kings), I even asked him to come and play for Red Steel back then. Now the name has changed. He was part of the KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders) family back in IPL and it's good that he joined the TKR team. So I'm happy to be team-mates with him, also with Hashim Amla who is another great player"
- Dwayne Bravo was rather pleased with his foreign imports in his team.
Squads:
Trinbago Knight Riders: Dwayne Bravo (C), Brendon McCullum, Sunil Narine, Hashim Amla, Umar Akmal, Kevon Cooper, Suleiman Benn, Colin Munro, Anton Devcich, Ronsford Beaton, Nikita Miller, Javon Searles, William Perkins, Yannic Cariah, Darren Bravo, Ramnaresh Sarwan,Hamza Tariq, Anderson Phillip.
St Lucia Zouks: Darren Sammy (C), Shane Watson, David Miller, Michael Hussey, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Morne Morkel, Denesh Ramdin, Derone Davis, Grant Elliot, Keron Cottoy, Shane Shillingford, Delorn Johnson, Kyle Mayers, Keddy Lesporis, Kristopher Ramsaran, Nitish Kumar, Gidron Pope.
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