TAROUBA, Trinidad, CMC – Captain Darren Sammy said yesterday there was a “silent confidence” in the St Lucia Zouks side they could spring an upset in today’s final of the Caribbean Premier League and deny heavy favourites Trinbago Knight Riders their fourth title.
Rank underdogs at the start of the tournament three weeks ago, Zouks defied all odds to win six of their 10 preliminary round matches and finish third in the standings to qualify for the semi-finals.
In the second of those matches on Tuesday, they routed the favoured Guyana Amazon Warriors who were last year’s losing finalists, to win by 10 wickets and now stand on the cusp of their first ever CPL title.
Faced with a TKR side still unbeaten in 11 matches for the tournament, Zouks have already been written off by many but Sammy said there was a huge desire inside the camp to lift the title.
“We want to win. Obviously TKR has been the team to beat. We’ve said in the dressing room if we want to win the final, you’ve got to go through TKR,” Sammy said.
“We have our silent confidence in the dressing room. If you notice, certain things haven’t gone well for us especially with the bat but we’ve managed to get ourselves in the finals.
“Like [with the semi-finals], you don’t carry anything from before into the final. It’s a clean slate; whoever plays good cricket on the day [will win] … and on Thursday we’re going to come with the same attitude.”
Test player Roston Chase has been a revelation for Zouks, scoring over 200 runs at an average of 40 while snaring eight wickets and bowling crucial spells with his off-spin. And while Kiwi seamer Scott Kuggeleijn has snared 16 wickets, Zouks have really not boasted any stand-out players but Sammy said the team approach had been key to their success.
“I think we’re in a good mental space. Coming into a tournament where nobody really gives you a chance takes the pressure off you but like I’ve always said, there’s a silent confidence that was there that we had the players in these conditions to go out and be effective,” he stressed.
“The Zouks team has really played as a unit and we’ve really put in some good performances and I think that’s why we’re in the finals. We as a group we believe in our abilities and we believe that we can go out and play a good cricket match against TKR.”
TKR captain Kieron Pollard, meanwhile, said there would be no change in approach for today’s final, stressing his side were firmly focussed on an unprecedented fourth title.
And while he acknowledged that there was pressure on the home side surrounding the championship game, he assured they were equipped to deal with it.
“We’ve had a good tournament so far. We’ve played some good cricket. We’ve come in each and every time and tried to improve as a unit so nothing is going to change tomorrow,” he pointed out.
“There’s always pressure. Before we played the first game there was pressure, throughout the tournament there was pressure as well, from the time you get into a tournament and people start to label you there’s pressure.
“At the end of the day, I’ve played in finals and for me it’s just another game because you have nothing to lose – four other teams would love to be in the position that both teams are in. It’s just for us to go out and play good consistent cricket and at the end of the day, results take care of themselves.
“One good thing is that we have guys who would have played in finals before so we’ve been able to settle the nerves of the ones that these things are new to.”
TKR were crowned champions for the first time in 2015 and in back-to-back years in 2017 and 2018 but Pollard said last year’s disappointment when they crashed out at the semi-final stage still lingered.
“Last year we were pretty disappointed at losing in the semi-finals and we made some changes and decided to come with a different mentality and it has shown in our cricket, and it’s just a matter of jumping this last hurdle and hopefully be four-time champions.”
In their two meetings during the tournament, Zouks went down to TKR by six wickets at Queen’s Park Oval and by 23 runs at the Brian Lara Stadium.