St Lucia Kings v Jamaica Tallawahs CPL Tips: Champs deserve respect

• Tallawahs rated outsiders

• Du Plessis form a worry

• Pitch decent for batters

St Lucia Kings v Jamaica Tallawahs
Thursday 17 August, 00:00
TV: Live on TNT Sports

St Lucia Kings v Jamaica Tallawahs team news

Kings finished fourth last term but Tim David and David Wiese are not in the squad this time. They are hugely reliant on Faf Du Plessis and Johnson Charles overturning poor recent form. Du Plessis was a disaster in MLC.

Hitter Bhanuka Rajapaksa is unlikely to be available due to Asia Cup duty so Scotland's Chris Sole may play. It's a strange call to make a pacer a replacement. Alzarri Joseph was last year's top bowler. Read the team-by-team preview here.

Possible XI: Du Plessis, Charles, Chase, Williams, Raza, Pierre, Julien, Joseph, Sole, Primus/Forde, Royal

Tallawahs won six in a row to come from nowhere to win the title. They may prove to have a stronger squad having added Alex Hales. But Hales remains with Trent Rockets for the duration of The Hundred.

That could give USA's Steven Taylor a chance to make the opening position his own alongside Brandon King, who won West Indies the final T20 against India. Kimani Melius is another option.

Possible XI: King, Taylor, Brooks, Blackwood, Allen, Imad, Reifer, Green, Jangoo, Gordon, Amir

St Lucia Kings v Jamaica Tallawahs pitch report

Nine of the last 13 first-innings have busted 160 at the Darren Sammy Stadium. Seven have been won by the team batting first so there's no evidence of a toss bias. Kings are responsible for four of those in last year's edition. It would, however, be wise to at least have a look at the state of the surface before wagering with five more games slated. The par line is set at over 165.5 currently.

St Lucia Kings v Jamaica Tallawahs match odds

Kings are 1.824/5 with Jamaica 2.0811/10. We're surprised the market has such a view so early in the piece. At the least it's a choice affair.

But a case could be made for Tallawahs at odds-against. They are the champions after all. They knocked out Kings in the eliminator last term, defending 148. There are likely to be worse odds-against shots than this lot. There is a chance of rain but we don't expect there to be enough to lose overs.

St Lucia Kings v Jamaica Tallawahs player bets

King hit 85 from 55 against India to claim the T20 series. That's a decent portent for a boosted 10/34.33 with Sportsbook for top Tallawahs bat. For Kings, Charles has a fine record against Tallawahs and is 3/14.00. Du Plessis is boosted to 12/53.40 but we'd prefer to wait to see a return to some semblance of form after an MLC which brought just 46 runs in seven innings. His runs are available to short at a toppy 27.5 at 10/111.91.