Caribbean Premiership hit by rains

The 2023 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) match which was set to pit three Zimbabwe international cricketers was abandoned without a ball being played due to heavy rains yesterday morning.

Scheduled to take place at the Darren Sammy Stadium in Gros Islet, the game was between St. Lucia Kings and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. The three Chevrons stars who were set to play on the day are Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza and Blessing Muzarabani. The two batting all-rounders, Williams and Raza play for St. Lucia Kings while the lanky fast bowler, Muzarabani plies his trade for St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots.

The toss was also not conducted after the umpires deemed the ground conditions not fit enough for any play to take place.

Yesterday’s abandoned match also marked the St. Lucia leg of the competition.

At the end of the first round, Williams and Raza’s St. Lucia Patriots sit at the top of the standings with four points from four matches. They won one and lost one while the other two games yielded no results.

Muzarabani’s St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots sit in third place with two points from two games. The Zimbabwean made his debut on Saturday in a match that was also abandoned as he became the third Chevrons star to play in this year’s edition of the CPL.

Williams and Raza, however, have managed to play some matches which yielded results prior to yesterday’s game. In their opening encounter, St. Lucia Kings lost by 11 runs against Jamaica Tallawahs before going on to record a 54 runs win over Barbados Royals.

In the win against Royals, Williams fell three runs short off his half century on 47 runs from 30 balls while Raza scored 23 runs from 13 deliveries. Raza went on to take one wicket for 21 runs in his four over spell.

The Chevrons trio is not new to international franchise leagues and playing alongside some international stars in the CPL will provide the Zimbabwean stars with good exposure and experience as they are set to take part in the T20 World Cup Qualifiers in Namibia in November. – @brandon_malvin.