CUL DE SAC–With seven matches more to complete the preliminary round of the St. Maarten Concrete T20 tournament, the top four teams are NAGICO in first place, Motorworld in second place, General Auto Repairs Spartans in third place and Future Champs in fourth place.
The newly formed Lucian Rangers Cricket Team is the only team of the other six teams that could presently squeeze into the semi-final. Future Champs have played all 10 of their preliminary matches while NAGICO, Motorworld and Spartans have one more match each. NAGICO and Motorworld on 30 and 28 points respectively have done enough to cement a semi-final spot but Spartans with one more match and Future Champs with no more games to play could be threatened by the Rangers. Both Spartans and Future Champs are on 26 points but Spartans could reach 30 points if they beat Sun Insurance Jaguars on April 3. If the Spartans lose they will remain on 26 points. Now, this is how the Rangers have a chance. They have three more matches to play and are on 14 points. If they win their next three matches, they will climb to 26 points. They must win against Motorworld on March 26, Conquerors on April 2 and Caribbean General Contractors (CGC) Lions on April 9 to stand a chance to advance to the semi-final. For the Rangers to win all three matches is a huge task and they must improve their net-run-rate also. Spartans (3.470) and Future Champs (1.953) have net-run-rates in the positive but the Rangers (-0.501) net-run-rate is in the negative.
The Rangers’ biggest win of the tournament was against Future Champs. They will have to replicate that performance to win all three matches. The journey for semi-final honour begins on Saturday against Motorworld.
The match-ups for the semi-final is the first-placed team against the fourth-placed team and the second-placed team against the third-placed team.
In other matches for this weekend, St. Maaten Veterans do battle against the Jaguars on March 27 from 10:00am and Masters take on NAGICO from 2:00pm on the same day.
