Kings hope to maintain momentum in home opener

Nine games have been played in the 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL), and the Saint Lucia Kings are on top. With wins in each of their first two matches, the Kings meet the Guyana Amazon Warriors on Saturday night at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in Gros Islet. It will be the first of their four matches at home.The Kings lead the six-team standings with four points and a net run rate of 1.503 from their wins over the two bottom teams, Antigua & Barbuda Falcons and St Kitts & Nevis Patriots. The defending champion Warriors beat the same two teams as well, but by lesser margins.The Kings, in fact, completed one of the most exciting run chases ever seen in the CPL, overhauling a target of 202 for victory.Key players in that game were Sri Lanka’s Bhanuka Rajapaksa and New Zealand’s Tim Seifert. Crucially, those two were the fourth and sixth batsmen to come to the crease in difficult conditions, with the team 24-4 when they joined forces.In the second game against the Patriots, meanwhile, Afghanistani left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad took 3-18 to hold the opposition to 142-7. The 19-year-old led a balanced bowling attack, in which Matthew Forde was the only one without a wicket. Only Forde and Alzarri Joseph went for more than seven runs per over.“Balance” is a word that Kings head coach Daren Sammy has used a great deal, alongside “depth.” The batting depth showed in the first match. In the second, the balance came to the fore, with two-time World Cup winner Johnson Charles unbeaten on a run a ball 47 in the chase. He provided the platform for captain Faf du Plessis, Ackeem Auguste, and Seifert to produce quickfire 20’s, cruising past the target with three overs to spare.Conversely, Guyana’s franchise is led by hometown boy Shimron Hetmyer and Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz, each of whom has produced more than 80 runs from their two innings to date.Versus the Falcons, the Warriors were taken to the last ball in chase of 169 for the win. Gudakesh Motie took 3-25, then Shai Hope and Romario Shepherd led in the run chase, with six players getting into double figures.The Warriors dominated against the Patriots, making 266-7, including 91 from Hetmyer and from Gurbaz. Motie grabbed 3-34 and Imran Tahir 3-48 as the Patriots were all out for 226 after facing 18 overs.The defending champs will be boosted by the addition of England allrounder Moeen for his maiden CPL stint as a replacement player.Sammy has joined numerous visiting captains and coaches in praising the pitch at the ground that bears his name. He noted at his pre-match press conference that there is no advantage to winning the toss on one of the most evenly-paced surfaces in the region.Johnson Charles has scored the most runs of anyone at this venue, and the Kings core will come in with familiarity of the conditions. Some showers during the course of the day may make things interesting for the team batting second, but the DSCG pitch also tends to play true regardless of atmospheric conditions.Scores in the region of 160 and beyond should normally be expected at this ground for the team batting first. The venue produced some of the highest-scoring matches in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in June.