Most fifties in CPL
Twenty20 cricket is all about how efficient you utilize the time you are given. You don’t have much time to waste, balls to go dot, the quicker you start reacting to the bowlers, the sooner you start building runs on the scoreboard and the sooner you start building runs, the faster you reach to milestones like a half followed by a full century.
There are batsmen all around the world participating in different leagues and have been their best, and scripted records unbreakable, the Caribbean Premier League is no exception. From players like Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, CPL has class players in abundance.
We take you through a list of top 5 batsmen in the Caribbean Premier League who have the record of most fifties in the league’s history.
1) Gayle- 17 fifties
The Universe Boss, Chris Gayle, known as one of the greatest T20 players the cricket world has been blessed with. He has legit stamped his authority in various leagues around the world for his power-hitting ability. Gayle has been the leading run-getter in various tournaments and speaking of most fifties, he tops the list with 17 half-centuries in 76 matches with a total of 2354 runs at an average of 39.23. The universal boss has a strike rate of 133.44 in the tournament and survived the innings 14 times. Unfortunately, Gayle won’t be participating this season due to personal reasons.
2) LMP Simmons- 16 fifties
Lendle Simmons is at the top, sitting at the second position in our list of top 5 most fifties in the Caribbean Premier League. Simmons has participated in every season of the second most followed league after IPL and has played for five franchises. In 71 innings he has played in the tournament, the right-handed batsman has a total of 2080 runs with a strike rate of 120.09 and averaged 33.01 in the tournament. He has smashed 16 half-centuries in CPL, second-most by any player. As for the current edition, he will be representing the Trinbago Knight Riders.
3) Colin Munro- 13 fifties
Colin Munro happens to be one of the finest batsmen CPL has got. The level to which Munro has been dominating the oppositions have remarkable. In July 2020, he was named in the Trinbago Knight Riders squad for the 2020 Caribbean Premier. He became the first overseas player to make a century at the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) as he played few games single-handed that assisted the Trinbago Knight Riders to reach a competitive level.
Throughout his CPL journey, Munro smashed 13 half-centuries which is the third most number of half-centuries scored by a player for Trinbago Knight Riders and throughout the teams in the CPL history. In total 46 matches, Munro amassed 1546 runs, while 100 not out remains his highest and a strike rate of 137.95. His heroic performances include 128 boundaries and 77 sixers.
4) Evin Lewis- 13 fifties
Evin Earl Lewis is a Trinidadian cricketer who represents West Indies in limited over internationals. As a left-handed opening batsman, Lewis is the third batsman to score two Twenty20 International centuries. In 2014, he was signed by the Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel in the Caribbean Premier League. He made a record of scoring 321 runs in just eight innings. The next year he switched to a new franchise St Kitts and Nevis Patriots for the 2015 edition and achieved the feat of the third-most runs for his team after Marlon Samuels and Martin Guptill. Not only runs, but Lewis also became the fourth player to achieve most fifties in the CPL history with 13 half-centuries.
5) Shoaib Malik- 12 fifties
The star talent from Pakistan, Shoaib Malik has always proven his mettle for every team he was a part of. He has a record of becoming the fourth batsman in the history of T20 cricket to score 9,000 runs. The Pakistani all-rounder achieved this feat during the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) itself while he was playing against Guyana Amazon Warriors. He also happens to be the fifth batsman to achieve the most fifties record in the CPL history. He has been in great form throughout various CPL seasons while representing Barbados Tridents and Guyana Amazon Warriors.
The Caribbean Premier League is all set to commence from the 18th of August, behind closed doors, with only two stadiums serviceable. With the absence of players like Chris Gayle, it may be a new opportunity for other batsmen to create new records or break the Universal boss’s records, in whichever direction it goes, the tournament will be worth the watch, as the spectators around the world have had along patience halt staying away from cricket especially the entertaining leagues. There will be 6 teams participating and competing around 33 games to win the CPL title for 2020.
