Antigua and Barbuda Falcons kicked off their Caribbean Premier League (CPL) journey in Antigua in the tournament opener against the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. The Patriots won the contest but the Falcons would be glad with their effort to be able to drag the game till the final ball. The Falcons did better with the ball than the bat and until their star opener Brandon King is back, they will not be up to their full strength and hence will hope that the veteran batter is fit very soon.
The way Jewel Andrew played, will open a whole new dimension for the Falcons' batting as if he can be that finisher than the senior overseas players like Fakhar Zaman and Sam Billings can shore up the middle-order like they did in the opener. The Falcons, however, don't have much time to think about the first game as they will be in action once again 24 hours later against the defending champions, the Guyana Amazon Warriors.
The Warriors have been able to retain their core group and would once again have a solid first XI but some of the other teams have been able to do some good shopping before the draft and the challenge for them will be to live up to their last year's performance.
My Dream11 team for CPL 2024 Match No 2, ABF vs GAW
Shai Hope (vc), Fakhar Zaman, Sam Billings, Jewel Andrew, Fabian Allen, Shimron Hetmyer, Romario Shepherd (c), Chris Green, Shamar Springer, Mohammad Amir, Imran Tahir
Probable Playing XIs
Antigua and Barbuda Falcons: Teddy Bishop, Fakhar Zaman, Kofi James, Sam Billings (wk), Jewel Andrew, Imad Wasim, Fabian Allen, Chris Green(c), Roshon Primus, Shamar Springer, Mohammad Amir
Guyana Amazon Warriors: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Raymon Reifer, Shai Hope(w), Shimron Hetmyer, Azam Khan, Romario Shepherd, Dwaine Pretorius, Gudakesh Motie, Keemo Paul, Imran Tahir(c), Shamar Joseph