The first semi-final of the Caribbean T20 League will be played on 14th September, Tuesday between Trinbago and the Saint Lucia. The match will be played at the Warner Park Stadium in St Kitts.
Starting on a bad note, Trinbago was on the fifth spot in the points table through the start of the league but Pollard's men pulled up their socks in the later part of the tournament. They were outstanding in their last game against St. Kitts and Nevis as they restricted the team on 147 in 20 overs after opting to field first. St. Kitts and Nevis’ Joshua Da Silva scored a half century off 45 deliveries but it wasn't enough as other batsmen couldn't perform well for the team. Gayle got out early in the innings on just 5. However, Bravo did impart ugly intentions but Udana had him on 25 and stopped him before he could go for bigger hits. Ali Khan played an important role in barring the opponents as he took 3 major wickets where he bowled out Rutherford and Allen.
147 was not a very good score given to Trinbago who have a good batting order. But the opponents did not give up and were going good through the powerplay.
Unfortunately, Pollard's 51 off 22 was enough to demotivate the bowlers and helped Knights win the match despite some ups and downs while chasing.
On the other hand, Saint Lucia faced Barbados in their last game of the league stage, wherein they were defeated by 8 wickets. Despite their loss, Chase & Cornwall were the batting leads for Saint Lucia scoring 56 off 38 & 40 off 26, respectively. The bowling line-up of the team failed to perform well, which led to the eventually loss of the team.
In the upcoming match against Saint Lucia, skipper Pollard will have to replicate the same batting style as he did in the former match. While Saint Lucia is needed to work on their bowling.
Trinbago and St Lucia have played a total of 17 matches, out of which Trinbago has a great winning edge with 12 wins out of 15 resulted matches.
Weather Report
St Kitts receives good amount of precipitation. The region is familiar to heavy rain and it might ruin the match. Having said that Duckworth Lewis would be the last option left if rain interrupts the play.
Pitch Report
The first semifinal of the Caribbean T20 League is scheduled to be played at the Warner Park in St Kitts. The previous matches at this pitch suggests that this stadium is a good spot for batsmen, as they enjoy batting putting up good scores. The track is slower compared to other pitches thus giving an edge to the spinners and is expected to get even more slower. Hence, chasing here would not be a better option so the team winning the toss might bat first. Anything above 170 or 180 would make the chasing team in a bad spot.
Probable Playing XI for St Lucia
Andre Fletcher (c & wk), Rahkeem Cornwall, Roston Chase, Tim David, Samit Patel, David Wiese, Alzarri Joseph, Wahab Riaz, Keemo Paul, Jeavor Royal, Mark Deyal.
Probable Playing XI for Trinbago
Lendl Simmons, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Colin Munro, Darren Bravo, Tim Seifert, Kieron Pollard (c), Isuru Udana, Akeal Hosein, Jayden Seales, Ali Khan, Ravi Rampaul.
Key Players: Trinbago
Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons
Key Players: St Lucia
Andre Fletcher, Ali Khan
