CPL final: clash of the SA veterans, du Plessis and Tahir
Written by I Dig Sports
Big picture: A rich SA flavour to the CPL final
Amazon Warriors have also loaded their side with spin-hitters like Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope and Moeen. After not playing a single game in the 2024 T20 World Cup, Hetmyer has reminded the world of his T20 pedigree, hitting 391 runs in 12 innings at an average of 43.44 and strike rate of 187.98 in this CPL heading into the final.
Form guide
Guyana Amazon Warriors WLWWW (last five T20s, most recent first)
St Lucia Kings WLWWW
Team news: Who will open the batting for GAW?
Since the start of CPL 2023, Amazon Warriors have used 14 openers with only Rahmanullah Guraz and Saim Ayub, who has missed this season for national duty, getting more than five innings each at the top. It remains to be seen if Moeen will open alongside Gurbaz again in the final on Sunday. Amazon Warriors will also have to make a choice between the fingerspin of Kevin Sinclair and the pace of Shamar Joseph.
Guyana Amazon Warriors (probable): 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 2 Moeen Ali, 3 Shai Hope (wk), 4 Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Romario Shepherd, 6 Keemo Paul, 7 Dwaine Pretorius, 8 Raymon Reiffer, 9 Kevin Sinclair/Shamar Joseph, 10 Gudakesh Motie, 11 Imran Tahir (capt)
Will Kings stick with Johann Jeremiah, who had made his CPL debut in Qualifier 1, or will they go back to Shadrack Descarte?
St Lucia Kings (probable): 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Johnson Charles, 3 Roston Chase, 4 Ackeem Auguste, 5 Tim Seifert (wk), 6 David Wiese, 7 Johann Jeremiah/Shadrack Descarte, 8 Matthew Forde, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Khary Pierre, 11 Noor Ahmad
Pitch and conditions: Spin to win?
Though the Providence pitch used for the last two games against Kings saw the ball come on to the bat better, the venue has traditionally rolled out slow tracks. Rain had interrupted Amazon Warriors' chase in the first qualifier and though rain has been forecast for Sunday morning as well, the forecast is more promising for the evening.
Stats and trivia
- The team batting first has won seven of the ten games Providence has hosted so far this season.
- Hetmyer and Charles have hit 31 sixes each in CPL 2024. Only Nicholas Pooran (35) has smashed more sixes than them this season.
- Noor Ahmad has dominated right-hand batters in this tournament, taking 16 wickets against them in ten innings. While he has managed just three wickets against left-hand batters, he has tied them down, conceding at just 5.34 an over.
Quotes
"We gelled well together last year, and we knew we had to work hard to win the competition. Coming back and defending the title is a bigger challenge."
Guyana Amazon Warriors captain Imran Tahir
"I feel like we've adapted well wherever we've played, bar two games at home where he were a little bit slow on reacting to those conditions."
St Lucia Kings captain Faf du Plessis
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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