… Franchises have until February 14 to submit list of retained players

By Clifton Ross

THIS year’s edition of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) comes with a twist, as teams are now allowed to retain many or all players in their side, if they wish, as deadline for submission of players’ names approaches.

The amended rule, which in the past only allowed a limited number of players to be retained by each franchise, was recently announced by Hero CPL Chief Operations Officer, Pete Russell.

Russell, during his visit to Guyana last Friday held a brief press conference at Providence during the second day of the Guyana Jaguars versus the Trinidad Red Force Regional 4-Day match.
During the media briefing, the CPL Head highlighted a number of positives coming out of the 2019 edition – one being the draft where he confirmed teams can now keep their entire roster.

In the previous editions, draft rules made it possible for teams to try and cling onto their best bevy of players while those released would be entered into the draft and become eligible for selection by other franchises.

“Each team can retain their whole squad if they pretty much want to. They can keep them or they can throw them away, so that’s entirely down to them,” said the CPL executive, who added that this year will also see an influx of players from the Under-19 levels.

Russell said this year’s draft will be held after the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL), adding that teams have until February 14 to submit the names of the retained players.
With Guyana moving a step closer to hosting a CPL final, having held the semi-finals at Providence in 2018 and 2019, Russell said when the 3-year deal with Trinidad & Tobago expires, he is firm on Guyana being the next future host of the League’s final.

Regarding the financial position of CPL, Russell said “We’re break-even,” stating that they are in a good financial position. Last year’s tournament raked in US$136,542,868 in the region, a 7.21% increase from the previous year.

YouGov Sport, a renowned statistical international entity, carried out the survey. Guyana, who hosted a few preliminary rounds and semis of the tournament last year, returned US$29,514,926 which, according to Russell, was up by 15 percent when compared to the 2018 edition.

Also, with emphasis being placed on women’s cricket development, Russell added that CPL will be looking to do more for the ladies during the 2020 edition, following up last year’s project, which saw a few of the Windies Women stars play in exhibition games.