Caribbean Premier League 2018 Team Previews and Squads
The sixth edition of Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will begin from 8th August, 2018. The competition will feature six franchises- Guyana Amazon Warriors, St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, Jamaica Tallawahs, Barbados Trident, St Lucia Star and Trinbago Knight Riders. The round-robin matches will see each side face each other twice before the playoff stages. The tournament will be played at seven different venues including three games in Florida. A total of 34 matches will be played in this year’s competition. Here is a quick overview of the six teams and their squads for this year’s competition.
Barbados Tridents
2014 CPL winners will be looking to make amends for their poor show in the previous edition. They haven’t played their best cricket last season as they could only win four games out of ten played in the competition. Jason Holder will lead the franchise in the coming season. Tridents will be happy as Australian Steve Smith has been signed for this year’s competition. Martin Guptill and Dwayne Smith will provide plenty of fireworks at the top of the innings. Wahab Riaz will be their premier bowler with the ball in hand.
Tridents Squad: Raymon Riefer, Jason Holder (c), Wahab Riaz, Shai Hope, Tion Webster, Shamar Springer, Hashim Amla, Shakib Al Hasan, Dwayne Smith, Dominic Drakes, Steven Smith, Imran Khan, Sunny Sohal, Ashley Nurse, Roston Chase, Steven Smith, Mohammad Irfan.
Guyana Amazon Warriors
Three-time finalists Guyana will be keen to go one step further in order to win their maiden crown. They have played excellent cricket since the start of the competition but fall short at the final hurdle. Guyana have played the finals of CPL in 2013, 2014 and 2016 but ended on the losing side.
Last season, Trinbago Knight Riders beat Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Qualifier game of the competition. Shoaib Malik will lead the side for the coming season. Chadwick Walton will be a key player for Guyana as he topped the batting charts last year with 458 runs in the competition. Luke Ronchi will be also a player to watch out for after his phenomenal performances in this year’s PSL (Pakistan Super League) 2018. Rayad Emrit and Sohail Tanvir are two premier bowlers for the side.
Warriors Squad: Shoaib Malik (c), Rayad Emrit, Saurabh Netravalkar,Sohail Tanvir, Akshaya Persaud, Gajanand Singh, Chris Green, Luke Ronchi, Chadwick Walton, Devendra Bishoo, Keemo Paul, Roshon Primus, Shimron Hetmyer, Cameron Delport, Veerasammy Paul, Jason Mohammad, Imran Tahir, Romario Shepherd, Sherfane Rutherford.
Jamaica Tallawahs
Tallawahs have lifted the coveted trophy on two occasions (in 2013 and 2016). They are strong unit who has always qualified for the playoffs since the inception of the league in 2013. Last year, they won six games in the competition and finished third in the points table. All-rounder Andre Russell will lead the Tallawahs for this edition. Russell did well in the Indian Premier League and will be keen to continue his good form in the CPL. Former Pakistan Captain and all-rounder Shahid Afridi will also play for Jamaica Tallawahs.
Johnson Charles and David Miller are notable names in the batting department while Krishmar Santokie is the premier bowler for Jamaica in the competition. Samuel Badree and Kemar Roach are also good form coming into this year’s competition.
Tallawahs Squad: Andre Russell (c), Kemar Roach, Andre McCarthy, Oshane Thomas, Samuel Badree, Rovman Powell, Johnson Charles, Ross Taylor, Steven Taylor, Shahid Afridi, Kennar Lewis, Krishmar Santokie, Imad Wasim, Kirstan Kallicharan, David Miller, Steven Jacobs, Elmore Hutchinson.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots
The franchise made their debut in the Caribbean Premier League in 2015. They did well with six wins out of ten games played last season. Patriots beat Trinbago in the Qualifier 1 game of the 2017 CPL but ended up the losing side in the finals against the same side. Chris Gayle, Devon Thomas and Evin Lewis are notable names in the batting department while Sheldon Cottrell and Alzarri Joseph are premier options with the ball. Carlos Brathwaite is quality all-rounder who will provide value with bat and ball.
Patriots Squad: Chris Gayle (c), Devon Thomas, Ibrahim Khaleel, Mahmudullah, Javelle Glen,Shamarh Brooks, Sheldon Cottrell, Evin Lewis, Ben Cutting, Alzarri Joseph, Fabian Allen, Sandeep Lamichhane, Tabraiz Shamsi, Carlos Brathwaite, Tom Cooper, Graeme Cremer, Brandon King, Jeremiah Louis.
St Lucia Stars
Stars have not done that well in the Caribbean Premier League. They finished third on the table in the 2016 Caribbean Premier League. The franchise suffered their worst result last season as they failed to win a single game and finished bottom of the table. Kieron Pollard has been named as captain of the franchise and will be keen to do well this season.
Andre Russell, David Warner and Lendl Simmons are reputable names in the batting department while Mohammad Sami and Kesrick Williams are premier bowlers for the franchise. The inclusion of Rumman Raees and Mitchell McClenaghan will add strength to the bowling department.
Stars Squad: Kieron Pollard (c), Kesrick Williams, Odean Smith, Andre Fletcher, Mithchell McClenaghan, Rahkeem Cornwall, David Warner, Lendl Simmons, Rumman Raees, Kavem Hodge, Qais Ahmed, Niroshan Dickwella, Christopher Lamont, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Dasun Shanaka, Darren Sammy, Jaskaran Malhotra, Obed McCoy.
Trinbago Knight Riders
Trinbago will be confident of defending their crown this season. The reigning champions will be led by Dwayne Bravo, who showed great form in this year’s Indian Premier League. Trinbago have lifted the coveted prize in 2015 and 2017 respectively. Last season, they beat St Kitts and Nevis Patriots by three wickets to clinch the title. Knight Riders is one of the most successful franchises in the competition and have made it the playoffs in all the editions since 2013.
Colin Munro, Brendon McCullum and Chris Lynn are notable names in the squad for this season while Shadab Khan and Sunil Narine are premier options in the bowling unit.
Trinbago Squad: Dwayne Bravo (c), Ronsford Beaton, Kevon Cooper, Amir Jangoo, Dinesh Ramdin, Chris Lynn, Colin Munro, Hamza Tariq, Anderson Phillip, Brendon McCullum, Jevon Searles, Sunil Narine, Shannon Gabriel, Fawad Ahmed, Darren Bravo, Khary Pierre, Nikita Miller
CPL 2018 is certainly going to be bigger and better than previous edition due to the players signed by the six franchises.
