‘The best vs the best’

CAPTAIN of the defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders Dwayne Bravo said there is no pressure on his team going into the opening match of the 2018 Hero Caribbean Premier League, saying the under performing St Lucia Stars will be under the microscope.

The two teams will square off tonight at the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair at 8 pm. Yesterday, at a press conference at the Hyatt Regency, Bravo and Stars captain Kieron Pollard, good friends off the field, engaged in some picong.

The Knight Riders skipper poked fun at the St Lucia Stars who are the only team to never make an appearance in the CPL final. The Stars, formerly St Lucia Zouks, have made the playoffs just once, finishing last twice and second-to-last twice.

Bravo said, “(There is) no pressure on our team, pressure on their team. They have not done anything in a while so the pressure is with them, but Pollard is one of the best players in the world and one of the most successful T20 players in the world as well. It is not going to be a walk in the park.”

Bravo is cognisant that the Stars have bolstered their roster with several changes to the team that struggled last year. “The name remains, but a lot of different players are there now. They have Lendl Simmons as well who is a very good player. My former coach (Brad Hodge) is there; I know how he thinks though so I will plan properly against them,” Bravo said.

Bravo addressed Pollard directly, “I want to wish you all the best in your new endeavours. You can’t do worse than the Stars normally do.”

In response, Pollard said, “He summed it up pretty well. I think he said all the right things, but for me, as he also said and I also believe, that when it comes to cricket we could talk a lot of things inside of here, but cricket won’t play in this press conference. We will go out with our small team that have not done anything (in the past) and see if we could do a little better, at least win one game more than we did last year.”

Bravo said the fans could expect a battle between himself and his Queen’s Park club-mate Pollard. “Well it is always a showdown between two of us, but as I said the neutral respect is there. We respect each other’s talent and ability, like I said he is one of the best finishers in the world so you have to give that respect when it is due. At the end of the day it is competition, as long as we play in the spirit of the game and don’t go overboard, that is very important. The fans are going to get their monies worth because it is the best versus the best.”

Some of the other top players that will line up for the Stars are Australian David Warner, Mitchell McClenaghan of New Zealand, Sri Lankan Niroshan Dickwella and the West Indies trio of Darren Sammy, Andre Fletcher and Kesrick Williams.

For TKR, Bravo will look towards his younger brother Darren, Kiwi duo Colin Munro and Brendon McCullum, Australian Chris Lynn and the TT trio of Shannon Gabriel, Denesh Ramdin and Sunil Narine.