St. Lucia Zouks – CPL 2020 Team Preview

St. Lucia Zouks team represents the St. Lucia islands in the Caribbean premier league. St. Lucia Zouks were called St. Lucia Stars between 2016 and 2018. The team is owned by Mohit Burman, Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia, and Karan Paul who also own the Kings XI Punjab team in the Indian Premier League. St. Lucia Zouks are the under-achievers of the league so far as they have never reached finals in the seven seasons so far. They reached semi-finals only once in the 2016 season. Darren Sammy international ground at St. Lucia is their home ground and no matches are scheduled to happen there this year. 

No. of seasons played: 7 (All seasons)

Best Result: 4^th place n 2016

2019 Season result: 5^th place (failed to qualify for the knockouts)

Coach: Andy Flower

St. Lucia Zouks – So near yet so far

Squad

Now, let`s analyze the team combination, squad strength, and different player options available in the St. Lucia Zouks team for the 2020 season. St. Lucia Zouks will look to end their jinx and win their first knockout match this season first.  

Captain: Darren Sammy

Darren Sammy is a 2-time ICC T20 World-Cup winning captain for the West Indies team. He will look to bring all his experience to count to help his home franchise team win their maiden trophy before he hangs his boot. He is a good all-rounder who can contribute with both bat and ball. 

Batsmen: Javelle Glen, Leniko Boucher, Kavem Hodge, Kimani Melius, Jonathan Wells, Najibullah Zadran

St. Lucia Zouks has five young and uncapped batsmen in their batting department. They miss the services of Colin Ingram and Rilee Rossouw owing to travel issues and Jonathan Wells and Najibullah Zadran came in as replacement players. Jonathan wells have played almost 100 T20 matches in Big Bash league and Najibullah Zadran has represented the Afghanistan team in the limited over matches consistently. 

All-rounders: Mohammed Nabi, Rakheem Cornwall, Mark Deyal, Scott Kuggleijn

Mohammed Nabi and Rakheem Cornwall have the experience of playing cricket at the international stage. Rakheem Cornwall scored runs at a strike rate of nearly 190 last season. Scott Kuggleijn can in as a replacement and will be an effective death bowler and big hitter down the order. Mark Deyal is the third off-spin bowling all-rounder in the squad who will be a reserve player mostly. 

Wicket-Keepers: Andre Fletcher

Andre Fletcher is the lone wicket-keeper in the squad and is expected to open the batting alongside Rakheem Cornwall. They both enjoyed success as openers last season. 

Bowlers: Kesrick Williams, Chemar Holder, Obed McCoy, Saad Bin Zafar, Noor Ahmed

They have a good pace bowling attack with the likes of Kesrick Williams, Chemar Holder, and Obed McCoy who has played for the West Indies team. 15-year old Left-arm china-man bowler Noor Ahmed will be their trump card in the bowling department.  Saad Bin Zafar will be the reserve spinner in the team.

Expected starting XI

Darren Sammy (C), Rakheem Cornwall, Andre Fletcher (Wk), Jonathan Wells, Leniko Boucher, Mohammed Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Kesrick Williams, Chemar Holder, Obed McCoy, Noor Ahmed

Remaining Players: Javelle Glen, Kavem Hodge, Kimani Melius, Mark Deyal, Scott Kuggleijn, Saad Bin Zafar

St. Lucia Zouks CPL 2020 Schedule

St. Lucia Zouks start their campaign against Jamaica Tallawahs in the third match of the season. Here is the complete schedule of the St. Lucia Zouks in the CPL 2020.

1. Jamaica Tallawahs vs. St Lucia Zouks, 19 August, 05: 30 PM, Brian Lara Cricket Academy
2. St Lucia Zouks vs. Barbados Tridents, 20 August, 10:00 AM, Brian Lara Cricket Academy
3. St Kitts & Nevis Patriots vs. St Lucia Zouks, 22 August, 10:00 AM, Brian Lara Cricket Academy
4. Guyana Amazon Warriors vs. St Lucia Zouks, 24 August, 05:30 PM, Brian Lara Cricket Academy
5. St Lucia Zouks vs. Trinbago Knight Riders, 26 August, 10:00 AM, Queen`s Park Oval
6. St Lucia Zouks vs. St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, 27 August, 10:00 AM, Queen`s Park Oval
7. Barbados Tridents vs. St Lucia Zouks, 30 August, 10:00 AM, Queen`s Park Oval
8. St Lucia Zouks vs. Guyana Amazon Warriors, 2 September, 05:30 PM, Brian Lara Cricket Academy
9. Trinbago Knight Riders vs. St Lucia Zouks, 5 September, 10.00 AM, Brian Lara Cricket Academy
10. St Lucia Zouks vs. Jamaica Tallawahs, 6 September, 05:30 PM, Brian Lara Cricket Academy

CPL 2020 Prediction

St. Lucia Zouks team is hardest hit due to the pandemic as they miss the services of Anrich Nortje, Rilee Rossouw, and Colin Ingram due to travel issues. Earlier, Chris Gayle opted to skip playing CPL2020 due to personal reasons. They still have a good batting line-up with the likes of Andre Fletcher and Rakheem Cornwall at the top while Darren Sammy, Mohammed Nabi, and Jonathan Wells who can play effectively in the middle order.  They have a strong pace attack with the young Caribbean bowlers like Chemar Holder, Kesrick Williams, and Obed McCoy. They have good spinners with Cornwall, Nabi, and Noor Ahmed but have no leg-spinners in the team. We expect the St. Lucia Zouks to end their season in group stages itself as they have inexperienced middle-order and lack quality leg-spinner. 

Top players to bet on: 

1. Rakheem Cornwall – Aggressive opener & Off-spinner
2. Mohammed Nabi – Effective middle-order batsmen and Off-spinner
3. Kesrick Williams – Good experienced bowler who can bowl variations 
4. Noor Ahmed – Left-arm China-man bowler
5. Chemar Holder – Pace bowler who can bowl 140+ kmph consistently

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