St Lucia Kings are preparing to host their first home match of the season, up against the Guyana Amazon Warriors. Both the teams won their opening two matches of this season’s Caribbean Premier League, and sit top of the table in 1 and 2 entering match 10. Both teams are well-rounded and have strong power-hitting cores, with Warriors having racked up 266 runs in their previous match against the Patriots. The victor of this match will go clear at the top of the table.
Dwaine Pretorious was the leading wicket-taker in CPL 2023 and has continued with strong performances so far in this tournament.
TEAMS HEAD TO HEAD RECORD
MATCHES ST LUCIA KINGS WON GUYANA AMAZON WARRIORS WON NO RESULT
22 8 13 1
VENUE AND PITCH
Daren Sammy Stadium in Gros Islet will be hosting this match. This is the first match of this year’s CPL taking place in St Lucia. Only two matches were completed at this venue in 2023, with several matches rained out. Teams prefer to chase at this venue, which offers enough to both team in either innings.
England allrounder Moeen Ali is set for his maiden CPL stint after having been signed up by defending champions Guyana Amazon Warriors for the ongoing season. Moeen, 37, will slot in as a replacement for Pakistan opener Saim Ayub, who is unavailable for the entire season.
Ayub’s absence is a significant blow for Amazon Warriors, considering he was the breakout star in their run to their first title in 2023. Ayub was the second-highest run-getter last season, with 478 runs in 13 innings at an average of 43.45 and strike rate of 142.26. Nobody hit more sixes than Ayub’s 28 in CPL 2023.
This time, the CPL clashed with Pakistan’s two-match Test series against Bangladesh at home, where Ayub opened the batting for his team, and will also overlap with the Champions One-Day Cup, a new version of Pakistan’s domestic 50-over competition. Ayub is set to play for Panthers in that tournament.
