One of the strong teams in the upcoming Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2023, St Lucia Kings would be hoping to conjure magic in the upcoming tournament. They have a lot of varieties in their squad and would be hoping to win this tournament in style.
After the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Punjab Kings (PBKS) took ownership of the team in 2021 and re-named it as St Lucia Kings from St Lucia Stars, the team finished as runners-up in CPL 2021.
With depth in their squad, the Kings have a solid chance of punching above their weight and winning the CPL title.
In this article, we take a look at a detailed SWOT analysis of St Lucia Kings in the upcoming CPL 2023:
Strengths
- Potent skipper: St Lucia Kings have an astute leader in the form of Faf Du Plessis. The South African batter has the experience of captaining T20 sides all across the globe and is the captain of teams such as Royal Challengers Bangalore, Texas Super Kings and Joburg Super Kings.
- Strong retentions: The team from St Lucia has hit the jackpot when it comes to their retentions ahead of CPL 2023. Players such as Roston Chase, Alzarri Joseph, Johnson Charles and Matthew Forde will be forming the core of the St Lucia Kings side in the upcoming tournament
- Good variations in the spin-bowling department: St Lucia Kings have some great variations in their spin-bowling department. They firstly have Roston Chase, who is an experienced off-spinner. On the other hand, they also have secured the services of Khary Pierre from Trinbago Knight Riders. Pierre is a good left-arm orthodox bowler
Weaknesses
- Lack of experience in the fast-bowling department: One of the key weaknesses in the St Lucia Kings squad is their absence of an experienced fast bowler except Alzarri Joseph.
- Absence of Niroshan Dickwella: In CPL 2022, Niroshan Dickwella had scored 101 runs for St Lucia Kings and was a solid wicket-keeping option for them. But he hasn’t been retained by the management and they have opted to go for Bhanuka Rajapaksha from the same country.
Opportunities
- Uncapped youngsters can shine: The likes of Matthew Forde, Peter Hatzoglou and Roshon Primus can get a big opportunity to play well and prove their mettle to the entire world.
Threats
- Runs can leak in the death overs: Executing death overs bowling is an art and it comes with experience and expertise. St Lucia Kings don’t have a solid bowling at the depth except for Alzarri Joseph and this could bite them back during crunch moments.
- High competition in the league: With some incredibly solid and well-balanced teams, the Kings could feel the heat during nervy moments in the tournament. The St Lucia Kings side can face a lot of threats from the opposition teams during the course of the matches.
CPL 2023: St Lucia Kings Full Squad
Kesrick Williams, Mark Deyal, Alzarri Joseph, Jeavor Royal, Johnson Charles, Preston McSween, Scott Kuggeleijn, Roston Chase, Faf Du Plessis, Tim David, David Wiese, Matthew Forde, Leroy Lugg, Larry Edwards, Ackeem Auguste, Rivaldo Clarke
Also read: CPL 2023 Squad: Guyana Amazon Warriors Full Players List, Match Schedule & Venues
