As things stand right now, St Lucia needs to win 2 out of their remaining 5 games to qualify for the playoffs, while St Kitts needs to win 4 out of 6. The latter’s net run rate is in negative as well, so not only do they need to win, they need to win by healthy margins.
The pressure will definitely be on St Kitts, but they have got good enough players to rise to the occasion and deliver the goods. Here are our fantasy cricket tips for game 15 of CPL 2020 –
Pitch Report
The pitch at the Queen’s Park Oval was expected to play a bit better than the one at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, but in the few games that have been played here so far, the ball has stuck into the surface and it has not been straightforward to hit the ball on the up.
Most of the games have been in the range of 140-150 and the spinners and the slower bowlers have been hard to put away. The surface for tonight’s game is not likely to behave any differently.
Predicted XI of both teams
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots
Chris Lynn, Evin Lewis, Ben Dunk, Nick Kelly, Dinesh Ramdin, Josh de Silva, Rayad Emrit (C), Imran Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Sheldon Cottrell and Jon-Russ Jaggesar
St Lucia Zouks
Kimani Melius, Andre Fletcher, Mark Deyal, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Darren Sammy (C), Scott Kuggeleijn, Saad bin Zafar, Chemar Holder, Roston Chase and Kesrick Williams
Top Picks
Out of all the games that Andre Fletcher has played in CPL 2020, he hasn’t looked scratchy in even one game, but despite that, he has not been able to cross the score of 30 on too many occasions and that’s simply because of his wrong selection of shots. However, the way he is timing the ball, it’s hard to imagine him not to get a big one soon.
Evin Lewis has shown solid temperament in this tournament and rather than just looking to smack every ball out of the ground, he is being more calculative in his approach which is why he is looking more dangerous as well. Containing him at the top of the order will be a challenge for St Lucia.
Mark Deyal has caught everyone’s eye with his range. He is not really a big man, but he is still able to generate quite a lot of power in his shots and he seems to be good enough to play the ball in different areas of the ground as well.
Jaggesar and Kuggeleijn are the two bowlers whose stocks have risen as the tournament has progressed as they have made so much of impact with both new and old ball. The wily old fox Ryad Emrit almost always chips in for St Kitts and he would be another good pick from the bowlers’ category.
Captaincy pick: Ben Dunk
Vice-captaincy pick: Roston Chase
Fantasy XI: Andre Fletcher, Evin Lewis, Ben Dunk (C), Mark Deyal, Mohammed Nabi, Rahkeem Cornwall, Roston Chase (VC), Ryad Emrit, Alzarri Joseph, Jon-Rus Jaggesar, Scott Kuggeleijn
