Midway through the party- Caribbean Premier League

Pollard has been in great form

‘The Biggest Party of the Sport is Here’- is how the marketing team of Caribbean Premier League promoted the league and nothing justifies to make you think otherwise. It involves players from West Indies- remember the dance moves of Dwayne Bravo, exaggerated celebration of Kieron Pollard and those sixes out of stadiums hit by Chris Gayle during the IPL.

The commentators dressed up in nothing short of a beach party wear (No shorts is an exemption though) and backgrounds during the commentary changes from mountains to beaches to crabs and what not.

 We are half way through the series- 15 matches were played out of 30 league games. We have seen the entire spectrum in wins- from closest finishes to easy one-sided fixtures.

Current champions Barbados Tridents extended their form into the new season as they sit on the top of points table. They would love to stay there till the end of the league stage- top of league table would be mean direct entry to finals. Kieron Pollard continued his form from IPL- he scored 220 runs and picked up 8 wickets in the tournament so far. With Shoaib Malik, returning on national duty, they would expect their top order to score majority of the runs.

St. Louis Zouks boast their lineup with the likes of – Kevin Pietersen, Ross Taylor, Darren Sammy and Fidel Edwards. They enjoyed mixed results winning three of their six matches. Their performances improved as their campaign continued. Andre Fletcher is the leading run scorer in the tournament so far and Kevin Pietersen started to make some quick runs too.

St. Kitts and New Patriots extend the definition of standard deviations. They won two out of their five matches- by one run against Barbados Tridents and by 119 runs against Jamaican Tallawahs. They currently stand at number three. Shahid Afridi is yet to deliver a performance worth the buzz that was created around him. It’s the foreign players that they look up to- Martin Guptill, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir to earn qualification. T Shamsi, chinaman spinner from South Africa, handed them a win they were looking for against Barbados.

Jamaican Tallawahs party started later than everyone else. Chris Gayle just started to get his grooves right. They do not have many players with a T20 reputation other than Chris Gayle, but the happy news is that the performances are coming from unknown quarters. Satoike is the leading wicket taker of the tournament. They currently stand at number four.

Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel played the least number of matches this season so far and the early results don’t look encouraging. Their batting is turning out to be their weak zone- they were all out for 95 against Barbados. They have a relatively weak squad with a majority of the burden to be shared by their international players- Dwayne Bravo, Kamran Akmal, Johan Botha and Jacques Kallis. They currently stand at number five.

Guyana Amazon Warriors are currently at the bottom of the table. They had registered only one win out of the four games played. This is the team with the most number of international players -11 out of 15 players represented their respective teams across formats. Guyana lack cohesion in their team and it is evident by their running between the wickets and rash shots played. They need to get their composure right if they were to make any progress in this tournament.

 

Let’s sit back, relax and enjoy as the second of half of the party unfolds.