Preview, CPL | Saint Lucia Kings look to cement top spot against tipsy-turvy Guyana Amazon Warriors

Another season of the "biggest party in cricket" Caribbean Premier League is drawing to a close but unlike seasons before, there is little intrigue as to which team will make it to the final stages. Saint Kitts and Nevis Patriots have already played out their games and ended with a subpar eight points, while Barbados Royals are last in the table with a solitary victory and already out of contention despite having two games still to play.

That leaves us with a race for just the top-two spots, which ensures a second shot in the knockouts if things go awry the first time around. Saint Lucia Kings are currently on top of the table level with Trinbago Knight Riders, with both having one game remaining. However, the former have a far better net run rate and as long as they avoid a crushing defeat on Saturday can rest easy. The Warriors, meanwhile, are one of the two sides that can upset their chances with two games remaining and eight points in hands. Victory against both the Kings and Barbados Royals will take the Warriors level with the former, which would motivate Guyana to win big at home to further push their cause for the top-two spot.

Form Guide

Guyana Amazon Warriors' results have followed a peculiar pattern in the ongoing edition, arriving in sets of two. They began with victories over the Falcons and Patriots, then suffered losses against Saint Lucia and Trinbago, bounced back with victories over the Royals and Trinbago, but have lost their last two games against the Patriots and Falcons. All that has left them fourth on the table with games in hand and with a positive net run rate of 0.361.

Saint Lucia Kings' experienced a stop-start beginning to CPL 2025, with two of their first four games being washed out while the other two had the results split. However, the side has been on a roll ever since, triumphing four of their last five games with the only defeat coming at the hand of Barbados Royals in their latest showing. 

Guyana Amazon Warriors:  L L W W L

Saint Lucia Kings:  L W W W W

GAW vs SLK Head-to-Head in T20s

The rivalry between Guyana Amazon Warriors and Saint Lucia Kings peaked last year as they faced each other a record four times in a single edition of the tournament. While the Warriors took home both the preliminary encounters, the Kings prevailed in Qualifier 1 and the all-important final to lift their first-ever title after over a decade's wait. When the two sides met earlier this season, the Kings chased down a target of 203 with four wickets and 11 balls to spare to further reduce the head-to-head gulf between the two sides.

Guyana 15-11 Saint Lucia

Pitch and Weather

Guyana has proven to be one of the more difficult surfaces to bat on in the Caribbean in recent times, offering ample support to the spinners and slower bowlers. As the season and tournament wears on, the pitches are expected to only get worse, as evidenced by the latest game at the venue where the Amazon Warriors succumbed to 99 all-out -- the previous two games had produced scores of 149 and 167 respectively. Notably, captains chose to chase in all those three games, with two of them turning out successful. 

A few showers are expected around the start of the encounter but the sun is expected to dominate the horizon thereafter, with temperatures comfortably over 30 degrees celsius. Extreme humidity and a soft breeze are the other predictions made by the weather radars.

Team News

The Amazon Warriors and Kings are both expected to field the same line-up as their respective previous encounters.

Guyana Probable XI: Moeen Ali, Ben McDermott, Shai Hope (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Hassan Khan, Dwaine Pretorius, Gudakesh Motie, Keemo Paul, Romario Shepherd, Quentin Sampson, Imran Tahir (c)

Saint Lucia Probable XI: Tim Seifert (wk), Johsnon Charles, Ackeem Auguste, Roston Chase, Tim David, Aaron Jones, Delano Potgieter, David Wiese (c), Alzarri Joseph, Harry Pierre, Tabraiz Shamsi     

Broadcasting Platforms

The Caribbean Premier League's ongoing season is being digitally streamed on Fancode and telecast on the Star Sports Network.