JUST half-a-dozen players from outside of their home territory were picked up by franchises during the 2019-20 Player Draft for the West Indies domestic professional season, on Friday.

Kjorn Ottley, a member of the Combined Campuses & Colleges Marooners side that last November won the West Indies Super50 Cup, now sponsored by Colonial Medical Insurance, headlines the list of six players chosen during the Player Draft staged at the corporate headquarters of Cricket West Indies here.

The Trinidad & Tobago-born batsman, whose solid batting at the top of the order helped to earn the composite Marooners side their first ever regional title, was attained from the Player Pool by the Barbados Pride as one of their five draft picks.

His compatriot Tion Webster was also retained by Pride and his Marooners teammate, wicketkeeper/batsman Amir Jangoo, also from T&T, was picked up by the Leeward Islands Hurricanes, becoming the third recognised wicketkeeper/batsman on their contracted list.

Former West Indies Under-19 captain, off-spinner Ramaal Lewis of Jamaica returns to the Guyana Jaguars, for whom he played last season.

Guyanese Bhaskar Yadram, another former Windies Under-19 graduate, was picked up by Windward Islands Volcanoes, who lost out to the Jamaica Scorpions on the choice of wicketkeeper/batsman Denis Smith, after he was surprisingly left off their “protected player” list following a notable performance during the last Championship season.

A handful of players have returned to the franchise in their home territories after playing outside in past seasons.

Kyle Mayers returned from Volcanoes and found a place on Barbados Pride contracted list, along with fellow all-rounder Roshon Primus, who previously played for Trinidad & Tobago Red Force.

After playing in previous seasons for the Hurricanes, Nkrumah Bonner got onto the contracted list of Jamaica Scorpions, which also includes fast-medium bowler Marquino Mindley, who played six games for Pride last season.

FRANCHISE CONTRACTED SQUAD LISTS
Guyana Jaguars: Devendra Bishoo, Anthony Bramble, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Clinton Pestano, Leon Johnson, Veerasammy Permaul, Raymon Reifer (Barbados), Romario Shepherd, Vishaul Singh; Christopher Barnwell, Tevin Imlach, Keon Joseph, Ramaal Lewis (Jamaica), Gudakesh Motie

Barbados Pride: Shamarh Brooks, Jonathan Carter, Miguel Cummins, Justin Greaves, Keon Harding, Chemar Holder, Kyle Mayers, Shayne Moseley, Shamar Springer, Tevyn Walcott; Dominic Drakes, Kjorn Ottley (Trinidad & Tobago), Roshon Primus, Tion Webster (Trinidad & Tobago), Kenroy Williams

Leeward Island Hurricanes: Sheno Berridge, Quinton Boatswain, Keacy Carty, Rahkeem Cornwall, Jahmar Hamilton, Montcin Hodge, Damion Jacobs (Jamaica), Jeremiah Louis, Kieran Powell, Devon Thomas; Nino Henry, Amir Jangoo (Trinidad & Tobago), Jaison Peters, Adelvin Phillip, Terence Warde

Trinidad & Tobago Red Force: Bryan Charles, Joshua Da Silva, Kyle Hope (Barbados), Imran Khan, Jason Mohammed, Anderson Phillip, Khary Pierre, Denesh Ramdin, Odean Smith (Jamaica), Jeremy Solozano; Yannic Cariah, Akeal Hosein, Isaiah Rajah, Keegan Simmons, Daniel St Clair

Jamaica Scorpions: Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, Akim Frazer, Assad Fudadin (Guyana), Nicholson Gordon, Derval Green, Brandon King, Andre McCarthy, Paul Palmer Jr Aldaine Thomas; Dennis Bulli, Christopher Lamont, Marquino Mindley, Denis Smith (Windward Islands), Alwyn Williams

Windward Islands: Sunil Ambris, Alick Athanze, Roland Cato, Kirk Edwards (Barbados), Kavem Hodge, Ray Jordan, Shermon Lewis, Obed McCoy, Devon Smith, Josh Thomas; Kenneth Dember, Dillon Douglas, Larry Edward, Desron Maloney, Bhaskar Yadram (Guyana)

ABOUT THE PLAYER DRAFT
The Player Draft was organised with the goal of achieving an equitable distribution of the available player talent in the West Indies Championship and Colonial Medical Insurance West Indies Super50 Cup.

Each Franchise contracts a minimum of 15 players, as follows:

• 10 players pre-selected from their home territory or from the previous season’s roster (also known as “protected players”);
• 5 players drafted from the Player Pool with a minimum of two from outside the franchise’s territory; and
• Each franchise can have one international player (i.e. non-eligible West Indian player) at its own cost

The six franchises participated in the Player Draft through a selection panel consisting of:

Barbados Pride

Roland Butcher – Interim Chairman of Selectors

Emmerson Trotman – Head coach

Guyana Jaguars

Esaun Crandon – Head coach

Anand Sanasie – Chief Executive Officer

Jamaica Scorpions

Junior Bennett – Chairman of Selectors

Andrew Richardson – Head coach

Leeward Islands Hurricanes

Sylvester Joseph – Selector

Vernon Springer – Cricket Operations Manager

Trinidad & Tobago Red Force

Tony Gray – Chairman of Selectors

Mervyn Dillon – Head coach

Windward Islands Volcanoes

Andre Coley – Head coach