St Lucia Zouks v Guyana Amazon Warriors: Fantasy Preview

St Lucia Zouks will lock horns with Guyana Amazon Warriors in the 22nd game of the 2019 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) at their homeground, Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet. With a major half of the tournament done, the Warriors side is still unbeaten in the tournament securing six wins in as many games. On the other hand, St Lucia has sneaked into the fourth spot on the points table with a win and a rained off game in their previous two encounters thereby keeping themselves alive in the race for the playoffs.

In 11 encounters between the two sides before the ongoing CPL season, Warriors have the edge with seven victories and only four defeats. In the previous clash between the two sides, the second game of the ongoing season, the Shoaib Malik-led side emerged victorious by 13 runs solidifying their dominant record over the Zouks. 

The Gros Islet track has seen the pitch slow down in the two completed games at the venue. Zouks were all out for 101 in the first game while chasing 172 against Barbados Tridents and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots could manage only 145 in a run chase of 165. The second innings at the venue has seen a drop in run-rate of 1.37 runs per over from the first innings - the biggest difference across innings in all venues in the tournament. Hence, picking spinners could be the way to go.

Moreover, Warriors have been the most spin-dominant bowling attack in this season. With spinners like Imran Tahir, Chris Green, Qais Ahmed and earlier, Shadab Khan, at their disposal, Warriors have inflicted the highest impact while bowling with spinners. Not to forget, Shoaib Malik has also been doing a fair amount of bowling for them. 

Imran Tahir: Retired from international cricket after the 2019 World Cup, the South African leggie is still one of the most influential bowlers on the T20 circuit. He has scalped 52 wickets this year, second only to Rashid Khan’s tally of 53 wickets but at a better bowling average (17.2 runs per wicket) and strike-rate (14.6 balls per wicket) than Rashid. This tournament, he has picked six wickets taking two scalps in each of the three games he has played.

Shoaib Malik: The Warriors’ skipper has turned up with the bat this season. He is amongst the 16 batsmen who have completed 150 runs this season. However, Malik has been the most fluent of them all committing only 12.1 percent false shots.

As stated above, Malik has been doing a fair amount of bowling as well in the tournament. In Warriors’ previous game, he completed his quota of four overs taking a wicket while conceding only 10 runs. His all-round abilities make him decent captaincy material for your Fantasy side. 

Chris Green: The highest wicket-taker in the tournament as yet, Green has picked 10 wickets with his canny off-spinners at a miserly economy of 6.98 runs per over. In the last game, he picked four for 14 against Barbados Tridents. Without looking dangerous, Green has picked a wicket in almost every game.

Kesrick Williams: Williams is the leader of Zouks’ bowling attack and has not disappointed with nine wickets in six games. Like Green, Williams has also picked at least one wicket in every game (except Zouks’ game against Tallawahs). At this venue, he has picked six wickets in only two games at a strike-rate of eight balls per wicket and could be a great pick on a pitch which is bound to slow down.

Brandon King: After starting the season on a slower note, Brandon King has picked up to become his side’s highest run-scorer in the tournament so far amassing 194 runs. His last three innings read, 51*, 59 and 49. An attacking shot-percentage of 64.9 is also the highest amongst all the four Warriors batsmen with 150 runs in the season. 

Scattered showers are expected in Gros Islet on gameday but the forecast does not seem to be too alarming to have an effect on the game.  

Brandon King, Rahkeem Cornwall, Colin Ingram, Shimron Hetmyer, Shoaib Malik (vc), Nicholas Pooran (wk), Keemo Paul, Chris Green, Kesrick Williams, Fawd Ahmed, Imran Tahir (c)