CPL 2020: Match 15, St Lucia Zouks versus St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, Preview- Two Saints meet in an exciting clash

The 15th match of CPL is scheduled to be played between St Lucia Zouks and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots on 27^th August at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain.

After a catastrophic start and hat-trick of defeats, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots finally found a win against the defending champs Barbados Tridents. The bundle of problems for the Patriots has been towering, however, Evin Lewis’s blitzkrieg knock of 89 off 60 overpowered the Tridents completely as they finally opened their account with 2 points. He stood as the lone army although Ben Dunk and Denesh Ramdin made important contributions to ensure their team crossed the line.

On the other hand, the winning run of St Lucia Zouks was brought to a halt as they lost a rain-curtailed encounter against the Trinbago Knight Riders yesterday. The Riders bowled well to restrict the Zouks to a harmless 111 at the loss of 6 wickets in 17.1 overs. The batting unit did not click although their go-to man Mohammad Nabi shone again scoring 30 with the bat and followed it by a wicket with the ball.

There was not much in Zouks’ control as they got off to an underwhelming start and that meant the DLS revised score for the Tridents was not going to be daunting. That is how it turned out and they chased the revised target of 72 runs in 8 overs with an over to spare.

Today’s clash will be an exciting one as the Patriots will be utterly desperate to win this one and keep their hopes alive in the tournament whereas the Zouks will eye to further cement their name in the top two.

Playing combinations

St Lucia Zouks

The opening duo of Andre Fletcher and Rahkeem Cornwall has been highly inconsistent thus far and the story was not different in the last game. Mark Deyal has shone in some matches, though he struggled in his boundary-less knock of 16 off 23 against the Knight Riders.

Roston Chase had his first entirely-off game as he missed out with the bat and did not bowl in the entire match. Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi made important contributions, however, Daren Sammy continued to disappoint.

Scott Kuggeleijn had a rare failure after back-to-back impressive spells as he gave 19 in his 2 without a wicket. Kesrick Williams carried on his form from the last game took a couple of wickets a moderate economy. Chemar Holder was expensive though he got a wicket. The  Zouks are likely to play with an unchanged eleven.

Predicted XI- Andre Fletcher (WK), Rahkeem Cornwall, Mark Deyal, Najibullah Zadran, Roston Chase, Javelle Glenn, Mohammad Nabi, Daren Sammy (C), Scott Kuggeleijn, Kesrick Williams, Chemar Holder

Bench: Kavem Hodge, Zahir Khan, Leniko Boucher, Kimani Melius, Obed McCoy, Saad Bin Zafar

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots

There was constant scrutiny of openers Chris Lynn and Evin Lewis that how they have not been performing in accordance with their name. Most of that has been quietened by Lewis’s 60-ball 89, and now it is Lynn’s time to fire. Joshua da Silva started the tournament well but has not been able to repeat.

Denesh Ramdin played well for his 46 runs against the Zouks, however, he struggled badly in the last game. Ben Dunk has had a start-stop run in the tournament but he looked fluent in the last encounter. Skipper Rayad Emrit and Sohail Tanvir have performed with the ball match after match and would want to continue doing the same. However, Tanvir and Alazarri Joseph will have to keep their economy in check.

Predicted XI- Chris Lynn, Evin Lewis, Joshua Da Silva, Nick Kelly, Denesh Ramdin (WK), Ben Dunk, Sohail Tanvir, Rayad Emrit (C), Imran Khan, Jon-Russ Jaggesar, Alzarri Joseph

Bench: Colin Archibald, Dominic Drakes, Jahmar Hamilton, Sheldon Cottrell, Ish Sodhi, Kieran Powell

Head to head

Matches Played- 11 | St Kitts and Nevis Patriots Won – 5 | St Lucia Zouks Won- 4 | NR – 2

Broadcast Details

Match Timings- 7:30 PM (IST), 10:00 AM (local).

TV– Star Sports 1, Star Sports 2, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 2 HD, and Star Sports 1 HD Hindi.

Live Streaming– The match can be streamed online on Fancode.