FLORIDA will not see action when this year’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) gets going in September.

Chief Operating Officer (COO) Pete Russell told a media conference yesterday that the organisation has opted to pull that country from its 2019 edition, citing a lack of crowd support for some of the games. Instead, all games will be played in the Caribbean.
Meanwhile, the tournament will commence in September instead of its regular August month styling.

According to Russell, “The September month allows us a clean window of action because we want all of our West Indian stars available.”
India is set to tour the West Indies in July and August 2019 immediately after the World Cup.

Russell also maintained that they will play the same number of games as last year as to not drag the tournament out.
As it relates to games for Guyana’s hosting, the COO contended that they are still in negotiations with the government.

He noted that “the hope is that we can get the same number of games. The playoffs that we hosted here last year were a great success”.

LESS INTERNATIONAL, MORE LOCAL PLAYERS
The 2019 edition of the tournament will also see a reduction in the number of international players, with teams only being allowed five and a total of four in the starting eleven.
This, according to Russell, is to keep the West Indian flavour.

Instead, the franchises will now choose two players from a West Indies development squad (which will be selected by the West Indies selection panel).

At least one of those two players will have to be in the starting eleven at any time.
This move is not a direct response to the Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Ricky Skerritt’s comment about the structure of the CPL.
“We (CPL) were lining this up under Mr Dave Cameron. We meet with the CEO of CWI in Barbados on Monday.”

Tallawahs to remain Jamaican
The Tallawahs will remain a Jamaican franchise according to Russell who told the media, “The Jamaica Tallawahs are firmly rooted in Jamaica.”

Some media indicated that the franchise would have been bought by a Florida-based company but that seems to have fallen through.

There is also no increase of teams from the 2018 edition with Russell fearful of the tournament becoming too congested and people losing interest.
“Sometimes less is more,” he said, adding that, “Some tournaments like the Big Bash run for long periods and we don’t want that.”

The CPL COO was also quizzed on the possibility of female involvement in the tournament and responded by saying they are considering it.

He stated that they are looking to have an exhibition game before the final, “Maybe a North vs South team or we get senior West Indies female players to choose their team.”
He said the CPL is interested in having female competition but that is up to CWI.