The SLK are one of the six franchises in the Caribbean Premier League. The owners of the franchise are Mohit Burman, Karan Paul, Ness Wadia, and Preity Zinta, who are also running the Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League. They are also known as St Lucia Stars and St Lucia Zouks. The team is based in the city of Gros Islet in Saint Lucia.
The Lucia Kings play at their home ground, the Darren Sammy Stadium. The former West Indian and two time T20 World Cup winning captain, Darren Sammy, is the captain of the team. He is also the coach of the team. In the first seven seasons, the SLK made it to the top four only once in 2016.
But in the last two seasons (2020 and 2021), they made it to the finals. Unfortunately, they lost both finals. In 2020, they lost to Trinbago Knight Riders by 8 wickets. Then in 2021, they lost to St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in 3 wickets.
St Lucia Kings 2022 Squad
After ending the last two seasons as runners-up, the franchise is desperate to win their maiden CPL title. That showed in their tactics in the Draft 2022. However, they mainly retained their consistent players and signed some international stars. And now, after looking at their squad for the upcoming season, it will not be wrong to say that they look like a strong unit.
The franchise picked the former South African skipper, Faf du Plessis, who will give the team the required confidence. They also went with Tim David and Johnson Charles to make their batting line-up look more destructive. All these players are enough to win the match single-handedly. Scott Kuggeleijn and David Weise will provid them the required spark in their bowling line-up.
The Saint Lucia Kings will start their CPL 2022 campaign against the four-time champions, Trinbago Knight Riders, in the second match of the season. The match will kick off on Thursday, September 1, 2022 at the Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts.
Full Squad for 2022
Retained Players: Roston Chase, Alzarri Joseph, Kesrick Williams, and Jeavor Royal.
New Signings: Faf du Plessis (Overseas), Tim David (Overseas), Johnson Charles, Mark Deyal, Matthew Forde, Scott Kuggeleijn, Leory Lugg, David Weise, Preston McSween, Larry Edwards, Rivaldo Clarke (Emerging Player) and Ackeem Auguste (Emerging Player)
St Lucia Kings: Overall Top Performers (Batting)
Roston Chase was the best batsman in the 2021 season. He ended the tournament as the highest run-scorer. Chase scored 446 runs in just 12 innings at an incredible average of 49.55 and a strike rate of 144.33. In fact, three out of the top four batters last season were from the SLK. Tim David (282 runs) was in third and Faf du Plessis (277) was in fourth place.
| Player | Span | Mts | Inns | Runs | Avg | HS | 50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andre Fletcher | 2013–present | 89 | 88 | 2299 | 28.73 | 84* | 12 |
| Johnson Charles | 2014–2017 | 40 | 40 | 1037 | 27.28 | 94* | 8 |
| Daren Sammy | 2013–2014 and 2016–2020 | 74 | 64 | 898 | 19.10 | 60* | 2 |
| Rahkeem Cornwall | 2017–present | 40 | 39 | 776 | 21.55 | 78* | 4 |
| Roston Chase | 2020–present | 22 | 20 | 628 | 44.85 | 85 | 6 |
St Lucia Kings: Overall Top Performers (Bowling)
Jeavor Royal was the highest wicket-taker for the franchise in the 2021 season. He picked up 12 wickets in 9 matches, while David Wiese and Kesrick Williams picked up 11 wickets each.
| Player | Span | Mts | Wkts | Avg | BBI | Eco | 4w |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kesrick Williams | 2018–present | 36 | 44 | 21.43 | 4/24 | 8.65 | 1 |
| Obed McCoy | 2017–present | 22 | 26 | 23.69 | 4/41 | 8.51 | 1 |
| Shane Shillingford | 2013–2017 | 34 | 25 | 29.40 | 4/22 | 7.13 | 1 |
| Daren Sammy | 2013–2014 and 2016–2020 | 74 | 24 | 33.25 | 3/18 | 8.41 | 0 |
| Jerome Taylor | 2016–2017 | 18 | 21 | 25.09 | 3/46 | 8.50 | 0 |