CPL 2018 Guyana Amazon Warriors vs St Kitts and Nevis Patriots : Preview and Playing XI

CPL 2017 Runners-up St Kitts and Nevis Patriots start their 2018 Caribbean Premier League campaigns against Guyana Amazon Warriors at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Thursday, August 9. Both teams have played each other in six CPL games with the Warriors winning four and the Nevis two.

In their most recent fixture, Batting first St Kitts scored 132/3, thanks to an unbeaten 66 from 55 balls by skipper Chris Gayle. Then Sheldon Cottrell claimed 2-28, as the Warriors fell four runs short.

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots: Patriots finished runners-up in last year's CPL. While they finished second in the league stage as they won six of their ten games, losing three and seeing one rained off.

In the playoffs, they beat table-toppers Trinbago Knight Riders as the Patriots posted 149/7 in twenty overs thanks to Gayle's unbeaten half century. In reply, the Knight Riders succumbed to Sheldon Cottrell’s 3-17 and economical bowling throughout the team as they finished 111 all out. But were unable to repeat it in the final as the Riders comfortably chased 136 with an over to spare.

With the bat, Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis were in explosive form at the top of the order in last season’s competition, scoring 375 and 355 runs respectively. Both these batsmen will bear the responsibility to provide a good start to the team.

With the ball, the unavailability of Afghan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi is a big blow for the Nevis and in his absence Nepal sensation Sandeep Lamichhane, who took 3/41 in Nepal's dramatic one-run win in an ODI against the Netherlands and also took eight wickets in five games in the Global T20 Canada, while Carlos Braithwaite took nine wickets in his five games in the Vitality T20 Blast. Both of them will be expected to get some early breakthroughs for the team.

Expected Playing XI: Chris Gayle (C), Evin Lewis, Brandon King, Mahmadullah, Tom Cooper, Jeremiah Louis, Sheldon Cottrell, Devon Thomas, Carlos Braithwaite, Ben Cutting and Sandeep Lamichhane.

Guyana Amazon Warriors: CPL 2018

Guyana Amazon Warriors: Guyana finished fourth in the 2017 league stage with five wins and five defeats from their ten games. While they missed out on the final spot as their score of 159/6 proved sub par in the season's qualifier against Trinbago Knight Riders

With the bat, Chadwick Walton was the leading run scorer in last year's CPL with 458 runs, and he will partner Luke Ronchi had a memorable stint in PSL, where he was a top scorer with 435 runs including five half-centuries. Both these men along with Shimron Hetmyer, who scored 207 runs in the three ODIs against Bangladesh last month will be key against St. Kitts.

With the ball, Imran Tahir has flown out to the Caribbean on the back of some excellent performances in the English t20 Blast, where he twice claimed four-wicket hauls and took 15 wickets in eight games. While Sohail Tanvir, the leading wicket-taker in last year's competition with 17 in 12 games, at an average of 18.52 is expected to boast teams chances this year.

Expected Playing XI: Shoaib Malik (C), Sherfane Rutherford, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Mohammed, Devendra Bishoo, Rayad Emrit, Roshon Primus, Imran Tahir, Chadwick Walton, Luke Ronchi and Sohail Tanvir.