HOLDERS Barbados Tridents will begin proceedings in this year’s Caribbean Premier League with a match against Guyana Amazon Warriors. The match will be played at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown.Although the home side did go on to win the tournament in 2014, this will be the first match of this season and all teams start fresh.
Skipper Kieron Pollard will be aware of the job at hand and the fact that the best way to start a league season is by getting the points on board.
The Tridents have an amazingly balanced squad even though they do not boast of an awful lot of players with international pedigree.
Hard-hitting opener Dwayne Smith, who had another successful spell at the Indian Premier League with the Chennai Super Kings, is a huge player to have at the top of the order.
Former Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik plays in the middle order with Pollard usually saved for the lower middle-order. The sides are known to change their batting orders from previous editions as they seek to respond to different situations.
Ravi Rampaul is a shrewd customer with the ball and has been a huge success in the twenty-over game throughout the world. South African left-arm spinner Robin Peterson is also part of the setup.
Guyana Amazon Warriors have great players in their ranks and one expects them to challenge for the title this season. Their recruitment drive for the new campaign was still on as they recruited Merchant de Lange and Jeevan Mendis only recently, owing to injuries to star players. Proteas fast bowler de Lange was drafted in as a replacement for Justin Ontong while Mendis replaces Lasith Malinga.
The Warriors is skippered by Denesh Ramdin and boasts the highest run-scorer in the short history of the CPL – Lendl Simmons. Besides Simmons, some of the West Indies regulars who are present in this side include mystery spinner Sunil Narine, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and Devendra Bishoo.
However, the side is especially strong when it comes to overseas talent. Brad Hodge is not getting any younger but anyone who has seen him play T20 cricket in recent times will attest to the fact that he remains a game-changer.
Similarly, Umar Akmal will be looking to find his best form after his national selectors chose to omit him from Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka. What is Pakistan’s loss could just prove to be Guyana’s gain.