When St Kitts and Nevis Patriots take the field against Barbados Royals on September 03rd (IST), they would be eying their fifth victory in the row and also a way to confirm their place in the Semi-Finals as 10 points will surely take them there. To get there, they have to get past the Barbados Royals who haven’t been in a good form themselves, losing three of the four games that they have played.
For the Patriots, Sherfane Rutherford has been in great form with the bat while with the ball in hand, Dominic Drakes has done some great things. He has so far had seven wickets in his kitty and has gone wicketless in only one game. Skipper Dwayne Bravo has been able to do the talking with the ball as well, picking up three wickets in the last match.
For the Royals, in the one game that they won, all-rounder Raymon Reifer and Kiwi batter Glenn Phillips were at their very best. However, it is the likes of Jason Holder, Thisara Perera and Johnson Charles along with Azam Khan that need to join the party with the bat for the team to make any impact.
Whether or not this happens is yet to be seen. Also to be seen is if the Patriots could get five in five and pose a great threat to Trinbago Knight Riders’ title defence.
Match Number: 14
Date and Time: September 03, 2021, 04:30 am IST, 07:300 pm Local (02nd September), 11:00 pm IST (02nd September)
Venue: Warner Park, Basseterre
Broadcast: Star Sports
Live Stream: Fancode
The pitch has slowed down considerably from the first week of action and it now seems that 160 is a winning total given that the defending team has the right kind of bowlers who could bowl slower one and back of the hand deliveries forcing the batsman to apply his strength and into the wind, it is really becoming hard to clear the boundary lines.
The weather at Warner Park will remain hot and humid with humidity decreasing to 78% from touching 80 in the last week. The temperatures would remain below 30 with the moderate breeze blowing. Since it is an evening game, a captain winning the toss would look to bowl first.
Devon Thomas (wk), Evin Lewis, Asif Ali, Sherfane Rutherford, Ravi Bopara, Dwayne Bravo (c), Fabian Allen, Dominic Drakes, Sheldon Cottrell, Paul van Meekeren, Fawad Ahmed
Johnson Charles, Shai Hope (wk), Kyle Mayers, Glenn Phillips, Jason Holder (c), Azam Khan, Raymon Reifer, Oshane Thomas, Mohammad Amir, Joshua Bishop, Hayden Walsh Jr
Wicketkeepers Azam Khan
Batters Evin Lewis, Glenn Phillips, Sherfane Rutherford
All-rounders Dwayne Bravo, Raymon Reifer, Jason Holder, Fabian Allen
Bowlers Dominic Drakes, Mohammad Amir, Paul van Meekeren
Vice-Captain Azam Khan
Captain Sherfane Rutherford