Caribbean Premier League 2017: 5 players who shone in the first week

The Caribbean Premier League is into its sixth edition and fans have already seen some enthralling encounters. After the first week of the tournament, the Trinbago Knight Riders are currently placed on top of the league table on the back of a couple of thumping wins.

However, the other five teams have also impressed with their own brand of cricket. Over the course of the first eight games of the tournament, several players have hit their straps and have contributed for their respective sides.

In our article, we take a look at five of those players who have been remarkable with both ball and willow in Week one of the T20 extravaganza in the West Indies.

#5 Wahab Riaz - Barbados Tridents

Wahab Riaz’s campaign in the Caribbean Premier League has got off to a healthy start. In the first week, he has been fairly impressive with the ball, picking up 6 wickets in his first 3 games for the Barbados Tridents team led by Kieron Pollard.

In the Trident’s first contest against Jamaica Tallawahs, Riaz returned with frugal figures of 4-0-22-1 and helped his team defend a low total of 142. In their second contest against the same opponent, Riaz piled on 3 wickets in the 11th over of the innings, which reduced the Tallawahs from 65/1 to 65/4 in a space of 4 balls.

Even in the third game against the St Lucia Stars, the Pakistani pacer got a couple of crucial scalps by getting rid of their openers in Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher pretty cheaply.

#4 Kesrick Williams - Jamaica Tallawahs

Kesrick Williams has struck for the Tallawahs at crunch moments

Kesrick Williams is currently representing the Jamaica Tallawahs side in the Caribbean Premier League and hasn’t disappointed one bit in their first 3 games. He has churned out 6 wickets in those games, and runs didn’t flow off his bowling either.

In the first game, he picked up the important wickets of Kane Williamson and Shoaib Malik and also conceded only 24 runs to restrict Barbados Tridents to a score of 142/7. He was taken for runs in the second game though, courtesy some brutal hitting by Kieron Pollard.

However, against the Trinbago Knight Riders, Williams made amends by getting the better of Sunil Narine and Brendon McCullum who were threatening to take the game away from the Tallawahs. Also, he gave away only 26 runs to put the brakes on the flow of runs.

#3 Colin Munro- Trinbago Knight Riders

Colin Munro has done his reputation no harm in the 3 games

Colin Munro, the swashbuckling left-handed batsman from New Zealand, comes in with a reputation of a fearless striker of the cricket. In this edition of the Caribbean Premier League, the Kiwi batsman hasn’t done his reputation any harm, representing the Trinbago Knight Riders.

Munro raced to an unbeaten knock of 66 runs from 39 balls, which helped the Knights chase down the target of 137 runs in 10 overs, set by St Lucia Stars. He peppered the boundary ropes and hit 7 fours and 3 sixes during the course of his innings.

He perished early to an attempted switch hit against Shane Shillingford of the Stars in his second game. Nevertheless, he came back to muscle away the Jamaica Tallawahs bowlers for a quick-fire 41 runs in 25 balls.

#2 Kevon Cooper- Trinbago Knight Riders

Cooper has been good with the ball and in the field

Kevin Cooper is a seasoned campaigner and has stepped up to the plate on several occasions for his side. Playing for the Trinbago Knight Riders, the all-rounder has been simply outstanding in the current edition of the Caribbean Premier League.

He got rid of Marlon Samuels in their opening game against the St Lucia Stars, giving away 15 runs in 2 overs. In the Knight Riders’ second game against the Stars, Cooper ripped apart their batting line-up with figures of 4-0-21-3, which helped the Knights restrict the Stars to a score of 118.

The Knight Riders couldn’t fetch a win against Jamaica Tallawahs, but Cooper shone for them by churning wickets of Shakib-Al-Hasan and Jonathan Foo, going for only 25 runs in 3.2 overs.

#1 Kieron Pollard- Barbados Tridents

Pollard is the current top-scorer in the event

With the passage of time, Kieron Pollard has earned himself a reputation as a powerful striker of the cricket ball in limited overs cricket. He is currently the skipper of the Barbados Tridents team and has led them with authority in this season’s Caribbean Premier League.

In the first three games, he averaged a stunning 73.00 and pushed out runs at a strike rate of 205.63. His campaign got off to a terrible start when he was dismissed for 1 run by Imad Wasim. However, with an outrageous knock of 62 from 33 balls, he almost took the Tridents over the line against the Tallawahs.

In the Tridents' third game, Pollard took the St Lucia bowlers to the cleaners to power his way to 83 runs from 35 balls that included six colossal over-boundaries.