TORONTO, Canada – Cricket Canada’s chances of hosting the opening ceremony and early matches in the second edition of the 2014 Limacol Caribbean Premier League (CPL) were still hanging in the balance as of yesterday.One thing is however certain; should the organisers and Cricket Canada finalise an agreement, there will be no matches at the picturesque Toronto Cricket Club ground. According to an article in this week’s Share newspaper here, the club has rejected an offer to host the first round contests.
The report pointed out that the club was approached but its vice-chairman of cricket, Howard Petrook, pointed out that ”it takes about six to eight months to get city permits and other contracts approved to host a tournament of this magnitude.”
A check with an official of Cricket Canada confirmed that negotiations are still ongoing between the CPL and his entity but these are at a standstill at the moment since new executives were installed only last week..
And while outgoing president Ravin Moorthy has acknowledged that he is in possession of an unsigned contract, new president Vimal Hardat said he had not seen it. Hardat told Share “I honestly don’t know anything about it, I have absolutely zero knowledge.”
Should the two sides come to a mutual agreement, the first round matches will be staged at the Maple Leaf Ground in King City but it is unsure whether the opening ceremony will also take place there since this venue is approximately 40 km north of Toronto.
Moorthy had earlier disclosed that Cricket Canada had been working with the CPL over the last six months to bring the tournament to Canada and discussions had been progressing satisfactorily. It was also revealed that organisers from the Limacol CPL were in Toronto earlier this year forming part of a negotiating team, working out the feasibility of hosting matches and staging the opening ceremony.
The CPL website is still to disclose any information on the 2014 fixtures and any updates on the opening ceremony. This year’s draft was completed on April 3 in Jamaica while the tournament gets under way on July 10.The semi-finals and final are set for the Warner Park Cricket Stadium in St Lucia.
In the meantime, and with Summer fast approaching, fans here are still optimistic that the two sides will reach an amicable agreement.
The inaugural tournament, which was staged exclusively in the Caribbean and Guyana, saw the Jamaica Tallawahs emerging victorious in the final against Guyana Amazon Warriors at the Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad.
The other participating teams are Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel, Barbados Tridents, Antigua and Barbuda Hawksbills and St Lucia Zouks.
Among the big-name international stars drafted this season are England’s discard Kevin Pieterson (St Lucia Zouks), New Zealand’s Corey Anderson and Martin Guptil and Pakistan’s Mohamed Hafeez (Guyana Amazon Warriors), world record-holder Sri Lankan Mutthai Muralitharan and Pakistani Ahmed Shehzad (Jamaica Tallawahs) and New Zealander Ross Taylor to the T&T Red Steel..
Well-known commentator Jamaican Simon Crosskill described the tournament as the “biggest party in sport” during the CPL Player Draft event, pointing out that fans can now look forward to all the drama, action and entertainment in July and August when it returns.
By Frederick Halley