CricViz analyst Freddie Wilde picks St Lucia Zouks likely XI and identifies their strengths & weaknesses ahead of the 2020 CPL.
Likely XI
- Andre Fletcher – right-hander
- Rahkeem Corwall – right-hander & off spin
- Kimani Melius – left-hander
- Najibullah Zadran- left-hander
- Mohammad Nabi – right-hander & off spin
- Mark Deyal – right-hander
- Darren Sammy – right-hander
- Scott Kuggeleijin – right-arm fast medium
- Zahir Khan – left-arm wrist spin
- Kesrick Williams – right-arm fast medium
- Obed McCoy – left-arm fast medium
Squad players: Leniko Boucher (right-hander – Emerging Player), Javelle Glenn (left-hander), Roston Chase (right-hander, off spin), Kavem Hodge (right-hander, left arm spin), Chemar Holder (right-arm fast), Saad Bin Zafar (left-arm finger spin)
Strengths
Mohammad Nabi
Genuine all rounders—players capable of getting into the team for their batting or bowling alone—are very, very rare. There are only half a dozen in the world. Mohammad Nabi is one of them. St Lucia do not have a particularly strong squad but Nabi offers benefit to beyond his individual impact in that he helps and facilitates team balance as a bowler who can contribute four overs and bat in the top seven. This should enable the Zouks to bolster their batting depth slightly.
Powerful hitters
St Lucia’s batting order is punctuated by dangerous power-hitting batsmen. Starting with Rahkeem Cornwall who is likely to open with Andre Fletcher ahead of the Afghan pair of Najibullah Zadran and Nabi and then Daren Sammy who, although not the player he once was, is still capable of some lusty blows. This is a batting order that, not unlike the Tallawahs but to a lesser degree, could be capable of some big totals but may find consistency hard to come by. St Lucia’s Emerging Player Kimali Melius is not as powerful as the batsmen around him but is a supreme talent and could be a big bonus for the Zouks in the middle order.
CRICVIZ PROFESSIONAL ANALYSIS
Weaknesses
Lack quality
Quite simply the Zouks lack quality. They have been devastated by the withdrawals of Colin Ingram, Rilee Rossouw, Arnirch Nortje and Noor Ahmad who lent middle order quality, high pace and mystery spin – all things that they are now clearly missing.
Spin issues
In a tournament likely to be dominated by spinners the Zouks are not short in this area with as many as seven spinners in their squad. However, of those seven only Zahir Khan and Nabi can be relied on with Cornwall, Kavem Hodge, Roston Chase and Saad Bin Zafar far from frontline bowlers. This spin attack is also quite one-dimensional: except Hodge they all turn the ball in the same direction – left to right, which will create match-up issues against right-hander heavy teams.
Pace bowling
The Zouks pace attack will be led by Kesrick Williams who will be supported by overseas recruit Scott Kuggeleijn, Obed McCoy and Chemar Holder. Williams is a useful strike bowler but does not offer much control which is problematic from a bowler who St Lucia will be relying on while Kuggeleijn is a puzzling overseas recruit who has received more interest from global franchises than his numbers deserve but is capable of bowling aggressive spells. St Lucia may need McCoy and Holder to make the step up but at 23 and 22 years of age respectively it will be a big ask. St Lucia’s pace bowling issues are likely to be apparent at both ends of the innings.
Freddie Wilde is a CricViz analyst, @fwildecricket.
