Barbados Royals will be looking to make a major comeback when they face St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in their second Caribbean Premier League (CPL) match on Thursday night. Barbados skipper Rovman Powell acknowledged the team was a little below their best in the opening round defeat against Antigua and Barbuda Falcons at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium last Saturday, and they will look to make amends.
The match at Warner Park in Basseterre will see the Royals coming up against their former skipper Jason Holder, who made the switch to the St Kitts this season to represent the Patriots – who have started the season with a big win over Falcons and two defeats to Trinbago Knight Riders and Guyana Amazon Warriors.
The Royals were slated to have training sessions on Tuesday and again on Wednesday under the guidance of head coach Trevor Penny and assistant Roddy Estwick. In the opening match, Powell was the standout performer with a superb unbeaten half-century. He came to the crease with the innings at the crossroads and ended on 51 not out off just 24 balls – which included five towering sixes in the final over to push the score over the 150 mark. Three of those maximums came in the final over as he unleashed his immense power.
Eventually the target was not enough as they went under by six wickets thanks to a match-winning 64 not out from Antigua’s rookie Karima Gore. The turning point in the innings was his back-to-back sixes off Eathan Bosch in the 18th over which brought down the required run rate.
“We felt as if it was a tough wicket to bat on at the start and we felt once we got to 150 we had a winning total, but they played well and got over the line. We know how well we can play and what we need now is a better batting display in the better wickets which we are likely to get in the matches upcoming,” Powell said.
Apart from Powell, there was another quality knock from Quinton de Kock, the experienced South Africa opener, who made 57 off 45 balls. The other struggled with Brandon King (3), Shaq Parris (6) and Sherfane Rutherford (7) all failing to fire with the bat.
FULL SQUAD: Rovman Powell (captain), Kofi James, Shaq Parris, Johann Layne, Jomel Warrican, Mujeeb ur-Rahman, Sherfane Rutherford, Zishan Motara, Azmatullah Omarzai, Ramon Simmonds, Kadeem Alleyne, Quinton de Kock, Ethan Bosch, Daniel Sams, Brandon King, Rivaldo Clarke, Nyeem Young; Trevor Penny (head coach)
