CPL Preview - Saint Lucia Kings
A third name change in as many years for Saint Lucia. Previously the Saint Lucia Stars, then the Saint Lucia Zouks and now the Saint Lucia Kings. This name change was as a result of the franchise being taken over by the same consortium that owns the Punjab Kings in the IPL.
Faf Du Plessis will captain the side this year and is expected to be fit for the season opener, after missing a chunk of cricket, including the entirity of the Hundred, with side effects from a concussion he sustained in the PSL earlier this year. Andy Flower remains as head coach, after somewhat re-inventing the side last season. He had a lot of work to do after three successive seasons of failing to make the top four, an impressively bad achievement considering it’s only a six team league. In the process of that three season run, they only managed to win six out of 30 games, so it was some effort from Flower and co, to build a side that managed to finish as runners up, losing to Trinbago in the final.
Out: Daren Sammy, Leniko Boucher, Kavem Hodge, Chemar Holder, Scott Kuggeleijn, Kimani Melius, Saad Bin Zafar, Naijibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi & Zahir Khan.
In: Faf Du Plessis, Wahab Riaz, Tim David, Usman Qadir, Samit Patel, Keemo Paul, Javelle Glen, Keron Cottoy, Kadeem Alleyne, Jeavor Royal & Alzarri Joseph.
What immediately stands out is how well they’ve recruited on the overseas front and they probably have one of the strongest groups of overseas players in the competition. With a few of them being in great form recently, there will be slight concerns over the fitness of Wahab and Faf, having both missed cricket recently but other than that it looks good from an overseas point of view.
Emerging players: Jeavor Royal & Kadeem Alleyne.
Jeavor Royal is a SLA bowler with five CPL appearances to his name, all of which came in 2019. He didn’t do particularly well in those games, taking two wickets at an economy of nearly 9 rpo. His chances of playing seem better at the start of the tournament before Samit Patel arrives, after that it’s difficult to see room for him in the XI if they’re planning on having Samit as one of the first choice overseas. Unless pitches really detiriorate, I don’t see much point in playing two SLA bowlers. Having said that it could be an option against some of the sides that are stacked with RHB.
Kadeem Alleyne is a right handed batsman, that would likely bat at four or five if he plays. Yet to make a professional appearances, players he’ll be competing with for a spot are Mark Deyal and Roston Chase.
Overall it seems like Saint Lucia are one of the sides that will struggle to get games in for their emerging player duo and it might have to be done on an injury/rotation basis.
I’m finding it more difficult to predict what XI St Lucia will go with than I am for other teams. They have five strong overseas players, though Samit isn’t available for at least the first game so that’s one less decision to make.
I’m fairly certain the opening partnership will be Rahkeem Cornwall and Andre Fletcher, tasked with getting them off to a flyer in the powerplay with Faf at 3. Expecting Mark Deyal and Roston Chase to occupy the 4 & 5 slots, Deyal gets in on the basis he is a LHB and Chase had a solid tournament last season. Tim David will bat at 6, giving them some power lower down the order and I expect Keemo Paul to get to the nod in the ‘all-rounder’ spot, though they could throw a curveball and play one of the leg spinning all rounders. However I’m not expecting that with Qadir in the XI as well.
The main bowling dilemma at the start of the tournament will be over who they pick between Kesrick Williams and Alzarri Joseph. The more exciting pick would be Alzarri Joseph, even though it hasn’t quite clicked for him in t20’s yet, he has shown promise in other formats. Kesrick is mainly used towards the end of an innings and that looks covered with Obed McCoy and Wahab Riaz. I would go with Alzarri as he has a better powerplay record, which is more needed than another death bowler, meaning a possible XI to start the tournament could look something like this:
Things will get more complicated when Samit arrives, it will be a tough decision for the Saint Lucia think tank to make, when it comes to deciding which overseas player to leave out. I don’t think they’ll be set on one particular player missing out either. Faf as captain will be a lock in the XI, as will Samit when he arrives in my opinion, for his verastility and also his ability to bowl in the powerplay with the ball. Qadir and Tim David look the most likely to miss out but it’s also worth noting that Wahab will probabaly need to be rested for a couple of games given his fitness record in recent times.
When Qadir misses out, they have the option of playing one of the leg spinning all rounders at 7/8 and Samit coming in makes sure they aren’t any weaker with the ball:
If David misses out it gives them the opportunity to play Chase again or get Kadeem Alleyne in as their emerging player. When Wahab doesn’t play, Kesrick or Jeavor Royal could come in.
Strengths:
Death overs bowling - The emergence of Obed McCoy over the last 8 or 9 months, as well as the experience of Wahab, leaves Saint Lucia looking like one of the best death over bowling units in the tournament.
Bench strength - Five strong overseas players as well as some good recruitment of local players, leaves them with 3–4 decent players on the bench at all times, which is something you can’t say for all sides in the tournament.
Bowling options - In general they have a lot of bowling options. Whether it’s the first choice quartet of Wahab, McCoy, Alzarri Joseph and Samit/Qadir, they also have Keemo Paul, leg spinning all rounders, Roston Chase and Cornwall as bowling options, which gives them a lot of variety.
Batting depth - Top order doesn’t exactly look stellar but they have a lot of bowlers capable of hitting lower down the order.
Weaknesses:
Lack of LHB’s - Another side with possibly one, maybe no LHB’s in the XI. It’s the only area where you can really fault Saint Lucia from a recruitment perspective this season.
Top order batting - A top order that can be destructive on it’s day but also looks extremely fragile. Cornwall and Fletcher aren’t consistent and Deyal/Chase at four and five isn’t exactly intimidating for the opposition, despite some good form last year. A lot of the pressure looks to be on Faf to deliver at the top of the order.
Powerplay bowling - Not necessarily a massive weakness if they play Alzarri but it would be if they decide to play Kesrick Williams ahead of him. Expecting Alzarri and Samit Patel to do most of the work in the powerplay, with an over or two from Wahab/McCoy if needed, possibly Chase when matchups dictate.
Player Notes:
Rahkeem Cornwall - His role in the side is simple, get the team off to fast starts in the powerplay, if he bats any longer, that’s a bonus. Comfortably the fastest scoring player in powerplay’s in the last three seasons of CPL with 163, 18 ahead of second best Narine (of players to face at least 100 balls.) Off spin may be needed at some point, depending on how often Chase is in the XI.
Andre Fletcher - His season last year wasn’t bad considering the conditions, 211 runs at a strike rate of just under 130. Overall his stats in the last few years have been average though. One of the slowest scorers against spin and doesn’t even have a good record against the ball turning in, which would be considered an easy match up.
Faf Du Plessis - Skipper for the season and a needed batsman at the top of the order for Saint Lucia, considering some of the local batting options. Faf has been in good form over the last few years, proving a reliable player for the many teams he has played for, striking at about 140 and averaging in the high 30’s. Another fairly slow scorer against spin, although he isn’t dismissed too often, hence post powerplay slowdowns can occur regularly with Faf. Can accelerate well after that and has a great strike rate in death overs, although it’s a small-ish sample size.
Mark Deyal - Expect him to be picked in the XI intially, as the only LHB in the squad. Played nine matches for St Lucia last season, scoring 166 runs at a strike rate of 126, either opening the batting or batting at three. Expect him to come in slightly lower this season and his stats against spin are okay in the limited sample size we have.
Roston Chase - Was only dismissed six times in over 200 balls in last season’s CPL, which was a valuable to trait to have last season, even though his strike rate was only 110. Also performed brilliantly with the ball, taking nine wickets in 29 overs at an economy of 4.66 rpo. Averaged nearly 40 against spin last season and if conditions are even remotely similar to last year I expect he’ll play in the majority of games.
Tim David - A cool rise for Tim David in the last few weeks. After playing and impressing for Surrey in the one day cup, he then got a replacement deal in the hundred, a CPL deal and a replacement deal in the IPL all within the space of about a week. It’s well deserved for David, after an impressive couple of years, striking at around 160. Stats since 2018 are slightly inflated by some games he played for Singapore, even still, his numbers are impressive and is particularly strong in the 12–16 & death overs phase.
Samit Patel - Samit is in some of the best form of his career in the shorter format. His batting has gone up a level after two poor years, he is hitting boundaries way more regularly, especially sixes, which were very rare for Samit in 2018 & 19. Despite the increase in scoring rate, his strike rate against spin has still been below 115, compared to 155 against non-spin so I wouldn’t get carried away with his recent form and throw him in higher up the order. Coming in at around number 6 seems about right. With the ball he’s reliable, like he always has been and can bowl in the powerplay if needed.
Keemo Paul - After a tough couple of years for, a change of franchise might be just what he needs. He won’t be expected to do anything crazy in this side, where as in the past teams that have recruited him have almost marketed him as a gun finisher & first choice death bowler, which is setting him up to fail. In this side he’ll be expected to bowl some overs, rarely his full quota and play a role in a strong lower/middle order for the Kings, lower expectations are needed but Keemo is still a talented player.
Wahab Riaz - I think he is fully fit, after picking up a niggle in his first game at the Hundred. Despite only playing one games, Wahab’s strengths at the death were well highlighted, even at the age of 36. He has been one of the best death over bowlers for a long time, although his numbers have dropped off slightly he is still above average. Adds some batting depth with a death overs strike rate in the mid 160's.
Obed McCoy - Obed has been a revelation since the last CPL. Despite not having much of an impact for Saint Lucia last year, he managed to pick up a deal to play for Team Abu Dhabi in the t10. His brilliant form in the t10, where he finished as second most economical bowler subsequently earnt him a re-call to the West Indies set up. Since that he has gone from strength to strength, taking 18 wickets in 10 games for the Windies this year, doing particularly well later in the innings.
Usman Qadir - Has all the ingredients to be a high class leg spinner. Qadir has shown big improvements in the last couple of years, going at an economy of 7.27 rpo and strike rate of 15 is much better than his stats in the previous couple of years. More economical in the 12–16 over phase, than 7–11 which is unusual for a spinner.
Kesrick Williams - A bowler who tends to bowl in all phases but also tends to be quite expensive. Does pick up wickets fairly regularly but with Wahab, McCoy and the added pace option of Keemo Paul his place in the side could come under pressure this season. With Alzarri Joseph competing for a place in the side with him.
Alzarri Joseph - Hasn’t really got to grips with t20 cricket yet, his economy rate since 2018 is over 9rp. However he has shown signs of being a good powerplay bowler, which is something Saint Lucia may feel they like, as a result I think Alzarri has a strong chance of playing at some point. For his lack of success in t20’s, he has been good for West Indies in ODI’s, picking up 30 wickets at an economy of 4.35, in 15 matches since the start of 2020. Also has some batting ability, which would be a bonus lower down the order.
Keron Cottoy - Leg spinning all rounder, could get the nod over Keemo Paul if he doesn’t deliver but I expect Cottoy will have a better chance of playing later in the tournament, if/when Qadir has to leave.
Javelle Glen - Another leg spinning all rounder, who played for Saint Lucia last season. Taking seven wickets in only ten overs and also made a couple of handy contributions with the bat. Though he is more of a part time option with the ball, he got a lot of assistance from pitches later in the tournament. He’ll be competing with Cottoy for a spot in the XI.
Overall, I’m really liking the team Saint Lucia have built. They’ve recruited well in area’s they needed and have a strong group of overseas players. Local batting options don’t look amazing but the group of bowlers looks strong, which should ensure they reach top four at a minimum. If things click, they could be one of the sides that compete for the title in my opinion.
Thanks for reading!
Stats: cricmetric
