IT has been dubbed the “Biggest Party in Cricket in the Region” and Saint Lucia has not been left out of the celebration as on Saturday, August 4, the Darren Sammy Cricket Ground will host the opening game of the Caribbean Premier League 2017.
Two weeks ago, the Government of Saint Lucia signed an agreement committing US$438,000 towards Saint Lucia’s hosting of the five CPL games at the DSCG. At that signing were Minister for Youth Development and Sports, Lenard Montoute; Chairman of St. Lucia Stars team, Jay Pandya; Daren Sammy; Johnson Charles; and KeddyLesporis.
In opening game, the St. Lucia Stars will play Trinbago Knight Riders. The two teams will meet again on August 7 at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
St. Lucia Stars will be led by double ICC World champion T20 champion and former West Indies captain, Daren Sammy. Other teammates are Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Eddie Leie, Obed McCoy, Kyle Mayers, Timil Patel, Shane Shillingford, Shane Watson, Sunil Ambris, Rahkeem Cornwall, Kamran Akmal, KeddyLesporis, LasithMalinga, David Miller, Marlon Samuels and Jerome Taylor.
The Trinbago Knight Riders teams reads HashimAmla, Dwayne Bravo, Kevon Cooper, Brad Hogg, Nikita Miller, Sunil Narine, Anderson Phillip, DeneshRamdin, Shadab Khan, Ronsford Beaton, Darren Bravo, Hamza Tariq, Brendon McCullum, Colin Munro, William Perkins, Khary Pierre, Javon Searles and Mehedi Hasan.
The DSCG will also host the St. Lucia Stars and Barbados Tridents on August 10.
The Barbados Tridents team reads: Kieron Pollard, Kane Williamson, Shoaib Malik, Dwayne Smith, Nicholas Pooran, Wayne Parnell, Ravi Rampaul, WahabRiaz, RaymonReifer, Christopher Barnwell, Imran Khan, Damion Jacobs, AkealHosein, Ryan Wiggins and Tino Best.
Two days later, on August 12, the St. Lucia Stars will host St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
The St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots team reads: Fabian Allen, Carlos Brathwaite, Jonathan Carter, Ben Cutting, Chris Gayle, Brandon King, Jeremiah Louis, Chris Morris, TabraizShamsi, Samuel Badree, Shamarh Brooks, Sheldon Cottrell, Nikhil Dutta, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Mohammad Nabi, Kieran Powell, Devon Thomas.
The St. Lucia Stars will stay home for the next encounter for the following day as they meet Guyana Amazon Warriors on August 13.
The Guyana Amazon Warriors team reads: SohailTanvir, Martin Guptill, Chadwick Walton, Chris Lynn, RayadEmrit, Rashid Khan, Jason Mohammed, Steven Taylor, VeerasammyPermaul, Roshon Primus, Gajanand Singh, Assad Fudadin, Keon Joseph, Steven Jacobs, S Katwaroo, Ali Khan and ShimronHetmyer.
The St. Lucia Stars will play their final match at the DSCG against the defending champions Jamaica Tallawahs on August 15.
The Jamaica Talllawahs team reads: Lendl Simmons, Kumar Sangakkara, Shakib Al Hasan, ImadWasim, Mohammad Sami, Rovman Powell, Gidron Pope, Kesrick Williams, Garey Mathurin, Jon-Russ Jaggesar, KrishmarSantokie, Jonathan Foo, Kennar Lewis, Andre McCarthy and Odean Smith.
The St. Lucia Stars from here on will be play their remaining matches away from home: versus Saint Kitts and Nevis Patriots at Warner Park (August 19); versus Guyana Amazon Warriors at Providence Stadium in Guyana (August 22); versus Jamaica Tallawahs at Sabina Park in Jamaica (August 25) and their final preliminary match against Barbados Tridents at Kensington Oval in Barbados (August 31).