William Perkins to open the innings for TKR in Brendon McCullum's absence

The ongoing Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign was running smoothly for Shah Rukh Khan owned franchise Trinbago Knight Riders. The Riders finished the league stages by sitting at the top of the table and were the first team to register their name for the playoff stages of the competition. However, they will be missing the services of swashbuckling opener Brendon McCullum in the playoffs.

McCullum suffered an injury in his hand in Trinbago’s last league stage encounter against Barbados Tridents. After scans, a fracture was confirmed and McCullum’s campaign was cut short just before the business end of the tournament. While TKR management announced Australian Daniel Christian as Baz’s replacement, the onus of opening the innings will be on West Indian William Perkins. The 30-year old has played just one T20I for his national team where he has scored 9 runs.

The Riders will face St Kitts and Nevis Patriots on Tuesday at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, Trinidad. Speaking about the crucial Qualifier 1 tie, TKR skipper Dwayne Bravo said “We have been playing good cricket all the while and we want to continue that. Our preparation will remain the same going into this match as all the rest before and we are looking forward to continuing the good work.”

Two trophies in two weeks for Dan?

McCullum’s replacement Dan Christian has the unique opportunity of winning two titles in two weeks. He is coming off England’s NatWest T20 Blast, where he lead his side Nottinghamshire to the title triumph. Now that TKR is very close to CPL triumph, head coach Simon Katich is hoping that his replacement will win the trophy in the Caribbean soil.

“Losing an iconic figure like Brendon to injury is clearly a massive loss to the team, but in Daniel, we have a proven match-winner who has just led a side to a T20 title in England. We hope that he can make it two trophies in two weeks with us in Trinidad,” said Katich.