Barbados Tridents (BT) welcome Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) for Match 19 of the 2019 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados. The Warriors are the only unbeaten team in the tournament, having won all five of their matches. The Tridents however have won just two of their four matches.
Last time these two sides collided, GAW suffered a 47-run loss against the Shoaib Malik-led side. Both teams are coming off the back of impressive wins. While GAW beat Jamaica Tallawahs by a whopping 81 runs, BT breezed past St Lucia Zouks by 71 runs. While GAW are firm favourites to continue their winning streak, they cannot discount BT, who could rise to the occasion. However, the Jason Holder-led Tridents can take confidence from the fact that his side has lost just once in five matches against the Warriors.
This is also Barbados Tridents’ first home match of the season and will be desperate to get the two points in front of their home fans.
Ground Details and Team Combination
A lot of runs can be expected to be scored at the venue. However, the spinners will play a crucial role in the match and will mostly be the ones to pick up wickets at regular intervals. A couple of handy spinners in your team is a must.
Captaincy choices
Shoaib Malik has led Guyana to five wins out of five and struck unbeaten 37-ball 67 in the previous match against Jamaica Tallawahs. The middle-order batsman is also a handy off-spinner and could be a handy weapon on this track. He has bowled just a couple of overs in the tournament so far, but could be forced to bowl a few more in this match.
With scores of 18, 31, 43* and 20 in the tournament so far, JP Duminy is due for a big score. Like Malik, he too can roll his arm over to good effect. As far as his batting is concerned, he is due a big score and this could be the game he turns his fortunes around.
Barring his 70 not out against Patriots and 44 in the previous match against Jamaica, Shimron Hetmyer has been largely disappointing in the tournament. But there is no denying that he is one talented youngster and is key to Guyana’s success in the tournament. He hit Jade Dernbach for four fours in an over and completely shifted the momentum in his side’s favour against Jamaica in the previous match and that is the threat he will bring into this game as well.
X-Factors
Qais Ahmed has already picked up five wickets from two matches. He was awarded the player of the match on his debut against the Patriots for his figures of 3 for 28 and followed that up with 2 for 32 in the next game against Jamaica. It is not easy to outshine someone like Imran Tahir but Qais has done exactly that. He has the best strike-rate among players who have picked up at least five wickets this season.
Barbados captain Jason Holder has done extremely well with the ball. He is his side’s leading wicket-taker with seven scalps from five matches at an economy rate of shade over seven and picks up a wicket every 13.7 deliveries. He has not gone wicketless in this edition so far and has picked up two wickets in all three of his previous games.
Justin Greaves smashed a composed 45-ball 57 after taking Alex Hales’ place in his very first match. In fact, this was his first-ever official T20 game of his career. The element of surprise could be the key element for him as he will look to cut loose once again.
Suggested FanFight team
Nicolas Pooran, Jonathan Carter, Johnson Charles, Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Shoaib Malik, Jason Holder, JP Duminy, Ben Lalor, Imran Tahir, Qais Ahmed.