The Saint Lucia Kings made it three wins out of five with a resounding triumph over table-toppers Saint Kitts & Nevis Patriots on Sunday. Currently second of the points table, Faf Du Plessis’ team now find themselves in good stead to make it to the semi-finals of the 2021 HERO Caribbean Premier League.
A big part of the Kings’ positive start to the season has been their pace bowling combination. The experience of Wahab Riaz and Kesrick Williams, coupled with the exuberance of Obed McCoy and Alzarri Joseph have boded well for the Saint Lucia Kings this season.
“I think our seam attack is particularly strong this season,” Head Coach Andy Flower had remarked in a press conference prior to the start of the 2021 CPL. “We’ve got Wahab Riaz from Pakistan, and Obed McCoy, who is in great form at the moment.
“It is lovely to see how he has developed over the past 12 months. Those are our two left-arm options. We’ve also got Alzarri Joseph and Keemo Paul. There’s also Kesrick Williams with all his experience and skill,” explained Flower.
“Those are five excellent seam bowling options that we’ve got, and backing that up we’ve got young Kadeem Alleyne who’s an all-rounder we can look to use to bat in the middle-order and bowl some seam. It is going to be exciting to see what he can do in this tournament,” he added.
Seam winning games
In the first game against the Trinbago Knight Riders and the game against Guyana Amazon Warriors, the pacers played a key role in getting the Kings over the line. In the former game, the experience of Wahab Riaz came in handy as he managed to defend 14 runs in the final over against a ballistic Tim Seifert.
In the game against the Warriors, Obed McCoy and Alzarri Joseph wreaked havoc in the powerplay overs, leaving the chasing team at 16/4 at the end of the powerplay. The leading wicket-taker currently for the Kings with nine wickets so far in four matches, and delivered match winning performances against the Patriots and Warriors.
With four games to go in the group stages, the Kings seem to have stumbled onto their best combination, with a settled pace attack giving them a massive bump despite the pitches being more conducive to spin. If the seam attack can keep up those high standards, the Saint Lucia Kings would be a difficult time to beat going forward.
