CPL 2018: Match 16, Match Prediction- Who will win the match, Barbados Tridents or St Kitts and Nevis Patriots?

Barbados Tridents will play hosts to St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the 16th match of the ongoing Caribbean Premier League (CPL). This is the first home game for the Jason Holder-led side and they would be keen to make the most of the conditions. Their opponents are also in a position to reach the top of the points table after winning this game and no wonder this will be one heck of an encounter.

Both the teams are coming off victories in their respective previous games and definitely will be looking to continue their winning momentum. Tridents will be at an advantage here but they will take the opposition lightly at their own peril who have won their previous away game against St Lucia Stars comfortably. Chris Gayle, the skipper of the Patriots would want his team to hit the straps soon knowing that a win here will get to them to the top.

Pitch

Nobody must be having any idea about how the pitch will behave at the Kensington Oval. This is the first match of the season at the venue and the pitch is expected to be flat. But as far as the 17 T20 Internationals played here are concerned, the team batting first has won 12 times which might lead to the captains winning the toss to bat first. Records are being broken in this CPL season and it is possible of the Gayle storm hitting the Tridents can’t be denied.

Team Combination

Barbados Tridents

Tridents tried a new opening pair in the last match and Dwayne Smith was promoted. Martin Guptill gave away his opening slot for him. The move didn’t work though and the Kiwi batsman should return to the top along with Hashim Amla. The middle-order will be boosted by the presence of Steve Smith and Shai Hope who did well in the last game. The bowling attack also has fared decently so far and there are expected to be no changes to their line-up.

Predicted XI: Martin Guptill, Hashim Amla, Dwayne Smith, Steve Smith, Shai Hope, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Jason Holder (c), Raymon Reifer, Wahab Riaz, Ashley Nurse, Mohammad Irfan

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots

Their bowlers were exceptional in the last game as they shot down the St Lucia Stars for just 69 runs. They would definitely love to bowl in the same vein and with not much to ponder over the batting line-up, even they are likely to go in with the same XI. Chris Gayle has been in great form but his dipping strike-rate will be a worry for the franchise. They have some T20 specialist cricketers who can pose the threat to any team in the league.

Predicted XI: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Devon Thomas (wk), Brandon King, Tom Cooper, Anton Devcich, Mahmudullah, Ben Cutting, Carlos Brathwaite, Sheldon Cottrell, Sandeep Lamichhane

Probable top performers

Barbados Tridents – Martin Guptill; St Kitts and Nevis Patriots – Evin Lewis

It will be tricky and the team winning the toss will have an advantage at the venue. The chasing will prove to be tough it seems.

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