KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) – Four new players have been included on franchises preparing to battle one another in the high-energy Caribbean Premier League (CPL) set to begin in Grenada tomorrow.

England international Owais Shah will link up with defending champions, Jamaica Tallawahs, while Ben Dunk, Player-of-the-Tournament in this year’s Big Bash League; will bring his big hitting to the Antigua Hawksbills.
West Indies batsman Kirk Edwards, who played in all three Tests in the recent series against New Zealand, will join the Barbados Tridents, while batsman Shacaya Thomas, will join Dunk at the Hawksbills.
The four players are replacing newcomers Thisara Perera of the Antigua Hawksbills who has been selected for the Sri Lanka ‘A’ tour; Kieran Powell also of Hawksbills, who is unavailable for personal reasons; Ahmed Shehzad of Jamaica Tallawahs is unavailable due to his commitment with the Pakistan training camp and Imran Nazir of the Barbados Tridents is injured.
St Lucia Zouks are also in the market for a replacement international player, after experienced Australian batsman Brad Hodge unfortunately suffered a broken arm in a warm-up game.
“It goes to show the strength of the Caribbean Premier League that we are able to draft in such talented and popular replacements for those who are now unavailable,” declared CPL Cricket Operations Director, Michael Hall.
“It is a tournament that is on the lips of every cricketer in the world at the moment, and although international commitments and injuries have taken their toll, we are always confident of having plenty of talented cricketers ready and willing to step in.”
The Limacol Caribbean Premier League returns on July 11, as the Guyana Amazon Warriors take on the Antigua Hawksbills at the National Cricket Stadium, Grenada, in the opening game of the tournament.