Newsday’s All-Star CPL XI

Chris Gayle: Whether you’re referring to Jamaica Tallawahs’ skipper as ‘WorldBoss’ or ‘Gaylestorm’, it’s a near-certainty that you’re looking to the sky for the ball. Gayle finished fourth (2013) and third (2014) in the past CPL scoring charts but this year, he finally grabbed pole position, leading the scoring list (430 runs) with the most sixes in a single season (33).

He also topped the batting averages (61.42) despite a niggling back injury and is currently the tournament’s second all-time leading runsgetter with 1,027. West Indies fans are hoping his surgery and recovery go smoothly.

Lendl Simmons: The Amazon Warriors opener finished fourth on the 2015 CPL scoring charts with 317 runs and three fifties from nine games at an average of 39.62, continuing his impressive form from the 2015 Indian Premier League (IPL) which helped Mumbai Indians cop the title. He finished third on the runs-chart there as well which further punctuated why he’s one of the most aggressive openers in short-format cricket. He closed off the 2013 CPL as the second highest topscorer and was the leading batsman last year with the most runs in a single edition. As it stands, he’s the CPL all time leading scorer with 1,029 runs, offering optimism for when he and Gayle don the T20 maroon.

Andre Fletcher: With 369 runs garnered in 10 innings at an average of 36.90 for St Lucia Zouks, he shone as one of the most aggressive openers in this year’s edition. He and Johnson Charles placed bowlers on the back-burners from the onset.

Fletcher has always been a fringe player for the Windies T20 squad but this year’s performance will once more see him shunted into consideration and jostling for the World T20s in India next year.

Darren Bravo: Coming into the Trinidad stretch this year, the left-hander had a miserly 20 runs from four matches under his belt. Suddenly, his old stomping grounds at the Oval saw the Red Steel maestro churn out 276 runs for the remainder of the tournament at an average of 69 including unbeaten knocks of 86, 80 and 49. ‘Lil’ Bravo’ looked like a batsman reborn, full of intent and purpose, and as the House of Bacchanal Party Stand could testify, a man on a mission to reignite his career.

Dwayne Bravo (skipper): It’s an indisputable choice. Having led Red Steel from the doldrums of the table to their first ever CPL title, Bravo has won over many. This is the first year the medium-pacer has entered the leading wicket-takers list and the top scalper in the 2015 IPL certainly carried over this momentum, finishing at the bowlers’ pinnacle with 28 wickets, 12 ahead of his closest challenger. His all-round prowess and never-say-die mentality proved invaluable.

Kieron Pollard: His aggressive captaincy started off last year’s champs with venom once again but as soon as Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik departed for international duty, Barbados Tridents lost steam. ‘Polly’ ended as sixth highest scorer (303 runs) and fourth on the wickets list (14) but still couldn’t recapture the magic that saw him drive Mumbai to the IPL trophy this year.

Nonetheless, his form and passion certainly bodes well for West Indies’ 2016 T20 aspirations.

Denesh Ramdin: He consistently emerges as one of the most agile and intuitive wicketkeepers across all formats. With the spin-heavy orientation of the CPL, his specialist skills and swift hands behind the stumps are what’s needed to pick up the pieces after batsmen are bamboozled out the crease. This was evident as he topped the 2015 list with the most dismissals (14) which still couldn’t prevent an Amazon Warriors knock out round exit to the eventual champs.

Sunil Narine: This is the first year that he’s cracked the top five in terms of wicket-takers in the CPL, finishing third with 14 scalps, boasting the tournament’s best economy rate of 4.94. After bowling action issues which plagued his 2015 IPL, Narine didn’t look as threatening as before in the Caribbean, but even when off-key, the Amazon Warriors spinner has proven to still be one of the most dangerous bowlers in the game, as demonstrated by his #2 ranking on ICC’s T20 bowling list.

Robin Peterson: The South African’s diminutive left-arm orthodox was very impactful early on in the tournament, stunning many on a pacer-friendly Kensington Oval pitch.

He ensnared 14 victims and flew under the radar as one of the CPL’s trickiest spinners this year, despite losing his magic toward the end with many believing that the Tridents’ long wait for the final slowed their relentless style.

Devendra Bishoo: He recreated Shane Warne’s ball-of-the-century last June when his leg-spin outfoxed Australia’s Brad Haddin internationally and shattered his stumps. In the Amazon Warriors’ home win against Red Steel, he did the same to Dwayne Bravo.

Now, Bishoo looks set to continue in the form that won him the 2011 ICC Emerging Player of the Year in a rebirth that saw him finally get drastic CPL playing time. He grabbed 12 from just seven games to stake his claim with the secondbest economy of 5.10, helping build Guyana’s spin pedigree with Narine.

Krishmar Santokie: With the Amazon Warriors, he topped the wicket-takers in 2013 (16), finished second in 2014 with 17 and once more, ends up in runner’s-up spot with 16 scalps this year. If anything, he’s proven to be most consistent when it comes to CPL victims and will be aiming to retain his WT20 spot which saw him play all five matches for the Windies last year. His low-keepers and off-cutters more make him a safe bet to do so as seen with his first appearance for Jamaica Tallawahs.