Jesse Ryder and Mitchell McClenaghan get call-ups from the Caribbean Premier League

What's the Story

Jesse Ryder and Mitchell McClenaghan have a earned a place for the upcoming edition of the Caribbean Premier League. The Kiwi duo will represent St Lucia Stars in the tournament. Manan Pandya, Director of Public Relations of St Lucia Stars was elated at welcoming the New Zealand boys in the team.

"Both Jesse and Mitchell are world-class players who will bring firepower to the squad in terms of both batting and bowling. We are sure that these new Stars will shine as we work on bringing home our first Hero CPL title," he said.

In case you didn’t know...

Mitchell McClenaghan has been representing New Zealand in limited overs cricket since 2012 and has been a major wicket-taker for them with 82 wickets in 48 One Day Internationals.

He also performed handsomely in this season’s Indian Premier League, picking up 19 wickets and finishing as Mumbai Indians’ second highest wicket taker.

On the other hand, Jesse Ryder’s International career has been marred with inconsistent performance and alcohol related issues. The left-handed batsman last played for his nation in 2014 against India. However, he has been plying his trade in the domestic circuit for the Central Districts.

The Details

Jesse Ryder was roped in as a replacement for David Miller, who is likely to join the South African A side, which will play a couple of unofficial four-day Tests against India A starting next month.

Mitchell McClenaghan came in as a replacement of Sri Lankan bowling spearhead Lasith Malinga. The Lankan star has been battling with injuries for quite some time now and is most likely to sit out of the Caribbean T20 extravaganza.

He might feature for the national side, which will play a 5-match One Day International series and a one-off T20 against India in the next month.

What’s Next?

The Caribbean Premier League starts on 4th August with the opening match to be played between St Lucia Stars and the Trinbago Knight Riders. There will be six participating teams in the tournament who will be going through a round-robin process, consisting of 30 games.

Thereafter the top four teams will go to the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad, which is the host for the Playoff, Eliminator 1, Eliminator 2 and the Final.

Author’s Take

Very few teams have been able to match up to the class and quality of the Caribbean nation in the T20 format where they have beaten teams black and blue. It’s understandable why the Caribbean Premier League generates so much buzz in the West Indies and it’s no different this time round.

St Lucia finished third in the league table in the last season with six wins. However, their tournament ended with a loss against Trinbago Knight Riders in the Eliminator. Malinga and Miller are heavy losses to any side, but they seemed to have zeroed in on the right replacements in Ryder and McClenaghan.

All in all, they will be looking to advance further than where they reached last time.