By Avenash Ramzan
St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots, one of three teams without a Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title, have opted for experience in the leadership set-up ahead of the 2020 League, set to bowl off in August.
T20 specialist Rayad Emrit and his fellow Trinidad and Tobago teammate of yesteryear Denesh Ramdin have been appointed Captain and Vice-captain respectively of the Patriots.
Both players bring a wealth of experience to the franchise, having appeared in a combined 346 T20 games. Since the tournament would be played solely in Trinidad and Tobago, familiarity to conditions is also a major plus for the leadership think-tank.
Emrit, who has previous captaincy experience with Barbados Tridents and Guyana Amazon Warriors, told News Room this week: “It’s another good opportunity to lead a franchise. Yes, they have opted for a Trinidad player to lead the team; coincidentally the tournament is played in Trinidad.”
“I know they would be looking at me especially, as well as Ramdin and Evin Lewis, the senior guys in the team from Trinidad, for the wealth of experience in Trinidad conditions.”
The ultimate aim, Emrit noted, is to lift the title this year.
“I hope we can go a couple steps further this year; last year we missed out after qualifying for the knockout stages. I’m looking forward to the challenge; we have a very good team, a very balanced team.”
Emrit, who has appeared in 136 T20 games and taken 149 wickets, has had CPL success with the Barbados Tridents, while Ramdin, who has scored 2,660 runs from 210 matches at a strike rate of 118, has won the CPL title with the Trinbago Knight Riders.
Apart from Emrit, Ramdin and Lewis, the other Caribbean players in the Patriots squad are Fabian Allen, Sheldon Cottrell, Alzarri Joseph, Dominic Drakes, Jon Russ Jaggesar, Colin Archibald, Joshua DaSilva and Dennis Bulli.
The international signings are Chris Lynn, Rassie van der Dussen, Sohail Tanvir, Ish Sodhi and Ben Dunk, while the ICC Americas player is Sunny Sohal.
CPL 2020 will bowl off on August 18.
Excellent win for cricket,and the West Indies fans.We have stayed up counting the days,hrs and minutes to the start of this series;Thanks to all who participated,from the early commentary led by Mikey Holding’s emotional commentary,ably supported by Nasser and the team,to the utility personel,this match was one for the record books.Give thanks