St Lucia Kings face off with Jam Tallawahs
By Sean Devers
THE captains of the four franchise teams that have qualified for the playoffs which commence this evening at the National Stadium, Providence, spoke with the media yesterday at the Pegasus Suites.
Imran Tahir (Guyana Amazon Warriors), Brandon King (Jamaica Tallawahs), Martin Guptill (Trinbago Knight Riders) and Sikandar Raza (St Lucia Kings) all provided updates on their respective teams.

“It’s going alright so far. In terms of the competition, at this stage nothing before the playoffs matters now. Our goal was to qualify for the playoffs and we achieved that. It looks like we are playing our best cricket now and that’s good from a team perspective,” informed King who has scored 253 runs with three half-centuries
“We are in a pretty good space…I think everybody has had some good game time out in the middle whether batting, bowling or fielding; so we are really good and the best is yet to come. We are looking forward to it,” disclosed Gupill, one of five batters with a century to their names.

“Everyone is looking forward to our next game, we have been playing good cricket. We have played four games in a row, so we deserve a rest today. Everyone is looking forward to Wednesday’s game at [sic] the Knight Riders,” posited the 44-year-old South African Tahir who has bagged 12 wickets so far.
Raza said the Kings are really excited. Our first aim was to qualify and we have achieved that. What we are looking for is some of our best cricket and best performances from the group stages and to improve on that,” said Raza

“It’s true that the physical is high. I remember arriving in St Lucia after a two [sic] journey from different parts of the world and playing the warm up game as soon as I arrived. I did not even get to the Hotel…I went straight to the ground. The thing I knew was that we played the warm-up game on Friday and woke up on Tuesday.
“The are[sic] quite tough physically…the travelling…it’s exciting that we get to see other Islands and get to learn about the different cultures and meet different people, but the physical challenges are there.

“But that is why we train in the off season and put our bodies through the hard work. That hard is for times like these when we have to travel, play and train. It’s quite tough, but the good thing is that all of the squad members are holding up well,” said Raza
Tahir noted that nothing comes easily. The players all have to work hard. But all the islands we have been to are beautiful and people who support us and that’s what [sic] we want play in front of passionate crowds.

“It has been extremally hot more than previous years, so it’s been tough on the boys. If you want to achieve something you have to work hard;” added Tahir
The TKR Skipper said that his side had a slow start, playing just two matches in 10 days, “but we played five games in eight days and that put a massive toll on everyone and when we left Trinidad we were very tired.”

King said like TKR they had a slow start but played back-to-back games in Guyana
“But these are the times that we train for and are excited to [be] here,” said King
Guptill confirmed that Dwyane Bravo was fit and available for the next match while Tahir informed the media that Keemo Paul could be ready for the final.
“He could be ready, but his injury is a bit serious, but Physio is working with him so we are hopeful.”
“Jamaica would love to have a home base due to fan support and knowledge of the conditions there…there are many other reasons and next year we are hoping that we get a home leg” explained King.

Tallawahs have beaten St Lucia Kings twice in the group stage; they now meet again today in the playoffs.
“We don’t pay much attention on what happened before. I think last year was a good example: we had to win three games to win the title and we did. But the guys will be confident that we played them twice and know what to expect, which is the same with the other teams,” stated King who said he is working on his injury and hopefully he will be on the park today