The Trinbago Knight Riders are ready to take on the Saint Lucia Kings (SLK) in the upcoming twenty-sixth match of CPL 2024 at the iconic Brian Lara Cricket Academy, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago.
The Brian Lara Stadium is popularly known for its great pitch for T20 cricket matches. Looking at previous games played on this ground, this pitch has offered a balanced challenge to both bowlers and batters. Batters has found success here. For bowlers, the pitch slows down a bit, which means spinners can bowl very well. Seam bowlers must bust out their cutters and slow ball for this ground.
The weather forecast mentioned that the match could be interrupted because of one or two thunderstorms later in the afternoon.
Trinbago Knight Riders, who, prior to this match, defeated St Kitts and Nevis Patriots by seven wickets, is a great deal. They hunted down a solid score of 194 with nine balls still to spare. Nicholas Pooran became Man of the Match in this game for his splendid knock of 93 off 43 balls.
Pooran is now the leading run-scorer for the Knight Riders with 275 runs at 176.28 runs per hundred deliveries in the seven innings he has played. Besides, Pooran Riders have a great batting lineup with Keacy Carty and Kieron Pollard and the opener Jason Roy, who seems to be in form now.
The riders’ bowling power solely rests with Sunil Narine and Waqar Salamkheil, who came out with 11 wickets. Another bowler to look forward to is Akeal Hosein.
Saint Lucia Kings have been placed on the top of the table with a solid 6 wins from the eight matches. In the previous match, they had a 13-run win against Barbados Royals. Johnson Charles has supported the team this year with his incredible batting, scoring 265 runs in 8 innings. He has performed remarkably, with a total rate of 138.
In the previous match against Barbados Royals, he was the best scorer of the innings, scoring 53 off 41 balls. Another batsman from the Kings lineup to look forward to in this match will be Tim Seifert, who has a total of 205 runs in 8 innings with a strike rate of 168.
This year, the Kings’ star bowlers are Noor Ahmad and Alzarri Joseph. With immense talent, they have taken 24 wickets in this season with a terrific wicket rate. Particularly, Noor, Riders should watch out. He has been going at an economy of just 5.37 this year.
Team Lineups:
- Trinbago Knight Riders: Jason Roy, Keacy Carty, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Kieron Pollard (c), Andre Russell, Tim David, Akeal Hosein, Chris Jordan, Jayden Seales, Waqar Salamkheil, Sunil Narine/ Dwayne Bravo
- Saint Lucia Kings :Johnson Charles (wk), Faf du Plessis (c), Ackeem Auguste, Aaron Jones, Roston Chase, Tim Seifert, David Wiese, Khary Pierre, Mikkel Govia, Alzarri Joseph, Noor Ahmad
