St?Lucia Zouks’ Andre Fletcher is the highest run-scorer heading into this week’s semi-finals of the inaugural Limacol Caribbean Premier League (CPL) but he won’t get a chance to add to his aggregate as his team, along with the Antigua Hawksbills, have been eliminated.
Fletcher, who played for the West Indies when the 2010 edition of the ICC World Twenty20 was staged in the Caribbean, scored 238 runs in seven matches at an average of 39.66 and a strike rate of 111.21.
He is followed by Barbados Tridents’ Shoaib Malik (223 runs, average 31.85, strike rate 114.74) and Guyana Amazon Warriors’ Lendl Simmons (218 runs, average 36.33, strike rate 103.31).
The Amazon Warriors will oppose Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel in the first semi-final at the Queen’s Park Oval tomorrow at 8 p.m., while the Tridents face the Jamaica Tallawahs in the second semi-final on Friday night.
Left-arm swing bowler Krishmar Santokie is the leading wicket-taker with 14 scalps at an average of 12.00 and an economy rate of 6.18 runs an over.
Left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan of the Barbados Tridents is next in line with 11 wickets at an average of 12.18 and an economy rate of 5.58 runs per over.
Tridents pair of off-spinner Ashley Nurse (average 12.00, economy 6.37) and seamer Rayad Emrit (average 12.50, economy 5.68) both have 10 wickets.
Three other bowlers have ten wickets. There are Hawksbills’ captain Marlon Samuels (average 13.60 and economy 5.03), Tallawahs’ Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan (average 14.10 and economy 5.87) and Red Steel captain Dwayne Bravo (average 19.00, economy 7.91).
Tridents’ off-spinner Malik, despite taking just three wickets from 13 overs has the best economy of 3.15 runs an over, followed by Samuels. Tallawahs’ captain Chris Gayle has been a revelation with his off-spin, conceding just 5.23 runs an over while taking six wickets at an average of 17.00 in 19.3 overs.
Another off-spinner Steven Jacobs of the Amazon Warriors has also been quite tidy in his three matches, taking four wickets while giving away just 5.44 runs an over. Lanky Barbadian left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn, who is playing for the Trinidad-based Red Steel, has an economy rate of 5.55 despite taking just three wickets in six matches from 20 overs.
Of the batsmen who have scored more than 100 runs, exciting Tallawahs’ all-rounder Andre Russell has the best strike rate of 169.87. He has struck 11 sixes and nine fours while amassing 141 runs at an average of 35.25.
Following Russell is Amazon Warriors’ New Zealand allrounder James Franklin, whose 170 runs have been scored at a strike rate of 142.85 and an average of 42.50. West Indies’ T20 captain Darren Sammy had a strike rate of 141.66 after scoring 136 runs (average 27.20) for the Zouks.
Fletcher has struck the most sixes – 13, followed jointly by Russell and Gayle with 11. Surprisingly, Gayle’s strike rate is 112.19 while another big-hitter, Kieron Pollard, the Tridents’ captain, has a strike rate of 121.64 after scoring 118 runs (average 29.50) in seven matches while smashing eight sixes. Pollard’s Tridents’ teammate Dwayne Smith has scored 155 runs at an average of 25.83 and a strike rate of 109.92 with only four sixes.
