Four points from CPL's week two in St Lucia

THE SECOND week of the 2022 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) ended over the weekend, with four days of matches (Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) at the Daren Sammy Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia.

As the tournament enters its third leg of matches here in Trinidad, at both the Queen's Park Oval in St Clair and the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, here are a few observations from the St Lucia encounters.

ALL-ROUND EFFORT FROM BARBADOS ROYALS

The Barbados Royals are the only team with a 100 per cent record, after five matches. The Royals, who finished dead last in the 2021 edition, which was staged exclusively in St Kitts (due to covid19 restrictions), are a force to be reckoned with, both with the bat and the ball.

On Wednesday, the Royals trounced the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) by 80 runs, under the Duckworth-Lewis method, and followed up with victories over St Lucia Kings (by six wickets) on Thursday and Jamaica Tallawahs (by eight wickets) on Sunday.

As far as their batting is concerned, the Royals have gotten consistent returns from opener Kyle Mayers (52, 33 and 12), while Quinton de Kock, who replaced the injured Rahkeem Cornwall at the top of the order, came good with an unbeaten 64 against the Tallawahs.

Captain David Miller and fellow South African Corbin Bosch have been used in the number three spot – Miller made 60 against TKR, Bosch struck 81 against the Kings and 56 against the Tallawahs.

Just as impressive is the Royals' bowling. They had TKR reeling at 51 runs for seven wickets off eight overs, and restricted St Lucia to 169/6 and Tallawahs to 156/8. They have settled with a core comprising pacers Oshane Thomas, Jason Holder, Obed McCoy, Kyle Mayers and leg-spinner Hayden Walsh jnr.

TKR'S BIG GUNS YET TO FIRE

In the 2020 CPL edition, which took place behind closed doors in Trinidad, TKR won all 12 games played. Two years later, the TKR are in danger of missing out on a semi-final spot, as their star players have all failed to live up to their reputations.

The use of Sunil Narine as a pinch-hitting opener has been unsuccessful, while captain Kieron Pollard and fellow opener Tion Webster have also failed to reach double figures, against the Royals and, on Saturday, against the Tallawahs (a 34-run defeat).

West Indies white-ball skipper Nicholas Pooran and the experienced Andre Russell have been unable to cross 20. Seasoned campaigner Colin Munro was the topscorer in both games, with 12 and 29 respectively.

The Royals comfortably posted 194/4 and the Tallawahs were able to reach 153/7. Veteran Ravi Rampaul took 3/40 and Narine 2/11 against the Tallawahs, but the absence of left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein, due to a groin injury, has robbed the TKR of a go-to bowler.

ST LUCIA KINGS OVERRELIANT ON TOP ORDER

Playing four matches at home, under lights, the Kings had mixed returns. They defeated the Tallawahs by two wickets on Wednesday, then suffered defeats to the Royals (by six wickets) and the Guyana Amazon Warriors (by six wickets) on Thursday and Saturday respectively. However, they were able to turn things around and spank the 2021 champions Patriots by 61 runs.

The Kings have depended on their top order and the returns from West Indies fast bowler Alzarri Joseph and Namibia pacer David Wiese.

On Wednesday, Johnson Charles' 62 was crucial in their score of 164/8, in response to the Tallawahs' 163/8. A day later, Charles made 29 but the Kings were struggling on 90/5 before Tim David (40) and Wiese (28 not out) featured in a sixth-wicket stand of 79 as the team reached 169/6; the Royals replied with 175/4.

Charles scored 87 not out and captain Faf du Plessis 31, but the Kings slipped from 93 without loss to 161/7, to which the Amazon Warriors replied with 162/4. A similar batting collapse occured on Sunday, with the Kings sliding from 86 for no loss (du Plessis scored 60 and Charles 41) to 161/9, but they bundled out the Patriots for 100.

In their encounters at home, Joseph have snapped up six wickets while Wiese, who has been entrusted with the late overs, took five wickets.

POWELL LEADING THE WAY

In the 2020 CPL, Tallawahs captain Powell tallied 106 runs at an average of 11.77 and, a year later, he was only able to amass 168 runs at 16.80. He earned a West Indies T20 recall at home against England in January and joined Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis as the only WI to score an international century, in shortest format, when he made 107 in the third T20.

Powell has been among the many WI batsmen who need to impress at this year's CPL, with the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup in Australia scheduled to bowl off in October.

On Saturday, against the TKR, he bided his time against the wily Narine but took advantage of the other bowlers as he topscored with 67 (49 balls, six fours and four sixes). Twenty-four hours later, again batting at number four, he made a useful 51 (31 balls, five fours and three sixes).

In his third year as Tallawahs skipper, Powell has the third highest aggregate of 200, behind Charles' 227 and Mayers' 206.