Ahead of the start of the play-off phase of the Republic Bank CPL today, the captains of the St. Lucia Kings, Trinbago Knightriders, Barbados Royals and defending champions, the Guyana Amazon Warriors all expressed confidence heading into their respective matches. They were at the time speaking at a press conference at the Pegasus Suites and Corporate Centre, Kingston, Georgetown, Guyana.
After finishing third and fourth in the league stage of the tournament, TKR and the Royals now face a win or go home scenario when they clash in the Eliminator tonight at the Providence National Stadium.
From the Royals’ perspective, Rovman Powell said that while their campaign began strongly before falling off in their last few matches, the mood in the camp remains upbeat and the Eliminator provides a chance for his men to turn the tide around. He noted that a training session slated for yesterday, gave the team an opportunity “to fine-tune some skills before we play a game against a strong Trinidadian side, we are definitely looking forward to it”.
On the other hand, Kieran Pollard, captain of TKR was keen to congratulate his team on getting to the playoffs despite them having a slew of injuries.
“In any tournament you start, obviously you want to qualify, so for us being able to qualify, that was a step in the right direction. We have been battling a lot of injuries in our camp but kudos to the guys for the way they came out each and every time to perform under that sort of pressure, especially from a selection perspective where you are never quite sure who’s going to be on the park”.
“I think, the way how the tournament has panned out, three teams finishing on 14 points goes to show the strength of the other teams in the tournament as well and the cricket that has been played. We are just looking forward to the most important part of the tournament which is the playoffs”.
Should TKR or the Royals win the eliminator, they will head to Qualifier 2, where they will face the loser of Qualifier 1 (Guyana Amazon Warriors versus St. Lucia Kings). The loser of that Eliminator tonight however, will be knocked out of the competition.
While the St. Lucia Kings and the Guyana Amazon Warriors will collide on Wednesday night, both sides by virtue of finishing in the top two bracket, have two shots at qualifying for the final. The winner of that clash will go through directly to the final, while the loser will have a second chance in Qualifier 2, where they will face the winner of the Eliminator.
Speaking ahead of that clash, the St. Lucia Kings skipper Francois ‘Faf’ du Plessis echoed Pollard’s sentiments of wanting to qualify for the playoffs.
“Your first objective is making the semis, but then, on top of that is to try and make that top two teams because it makes it that bit easier to get to the finals. It was a huge achievement for us to make it into the top two, so I’m very proud of the team in the last six games, the way how we performed” he said.
Meanwhile, Imran Tahir expressed his gratitude to the Guyanese fans saying; “We are really grateful to the crowd and the support has been amazing as always. I’m just really grateful to them. We have achieved what we wanted to achieve in terms of making it to the top two. I’m just really happy for the brand of cricket we have played and the character that was shown in the last two weeks”.
Looking ahead to the qualifier against St. Lucia, Tahir said: “We are really looking forward to a really good battle”.
Tonight’s Eliminator is slated to bowl off at 7 pm while Qualifier 1 will also get underway at the same time on Wednesday night at the Providence National Stadium.
