The Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and Cricket West Indies (CWI) have agreed to adjust the dates of the 2019 tournament to avoid a clash with the West Indies’ Test, ODI and T20 International series against India.
These international matches have been moved back at the request of the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI), as because of the conflict, West Indies international players would not be available for the tournament.
Hero CPL will now take place from Wednesday 4th September to Saturday 12th October. The full schedule of matches will be released in due course with matches already confirmed for Barbados, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.
The final list of players who have made themselves available for the 2019 Hero Caribbean Premier League has been sent to teams ahead of the draft which will take place in London on Wednesday 22nd May 2019.
The number of players that have put their names forward for the draft has increased yet again in 2019, as has the number of countries from which the overseas players are from. A record 536 players from 20 overseas countries and the West Indies are available to be picked by the six Hero CPL teams. Included in the list are some of the best T20 players in the world with the likes of Alex Hales, Rashid Khan, Shakib al Hasan, Jofra Archer and JP Duminy putting their names forward along with Caribbean stars such as Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, ShimronHetmyer and Shai Hope.
Prior to the draft, each franchise will have the option to retain and/or acquire a maximum of six players, although there is no obligation to do so. The players they can potentially retain are as follows:
Minimum of three West Indian players, a maximum of four; Maximum of one overseas player, reduced to none if four West Indians retained; A Marquee Player whether retained or acquired; An ICC Americas Player, whether retained or acquired.
All retentions will be announced during the live broadcast of the player draft which will be broadcast on the Hero CPL social media channels from 2.00 p.m. GMT on Wednesday 22nd May.
Speaking about the player response to this year’s draft, Michael Hall, Hero CPL Tournament Operations Director, said: “The fact that so many players have registered for our draft is a testament to the stature of our league. Playing cricket in the Caribbean is something that all players look forward to, and the CPL combines that allure with a high standard of cricket. We expect that this year’s tournament will be no different.”
Meanwhile, Nicholas Pooran has been signed by the Guyana Amazon Warriors as their Marquee Player for 2019. The Trinidadian wicket-keeper batsman played for the Barbados Tridents last year but in a big move for him and the franchise he will be playing for the Guyanese team in 2019.
Pooran has played 11 T20 Internationals for the West Indies and has become a fixture in T20 tournaments around the world. He is also a member of the West Indies squad for the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. This will be the third CPL team that Pooran has represented having started his career with the Trinbago Knight Riders before moving to the Tridents.
The Jamaica Tallawahs have signed Chris Gayle as their Marquee Player. The leading T20 batsman of all time, Gayle is the only player with more than 10,000 runs in the format. He is the leading CPL run scorer with 2111 runs and has scored three CPL hundreds, all of those for the Tallawahs.
Gayle was with the Tallawahs from 2013 to 2016, winning the title with them twice in that time. Since then he has been with the Saint Kitts and Nevis Patriots where he has captained them to the playoffs in successive years, making the final in 2017.
The combined 536 players are from – Afghanistan; Australia; Bangladesh; Bermuda; Canada; England; Hong Kong; India; Ireland; Kenya; Nepal; NEW Zealand; Oman; Pakistan; Scotland; South Africa; UAE; West Indies; Zimbabwe and the West Indies.
The West Indies has 182 players in the pool of 536.
Of the 182 players in the West Indies pool there are five Saint Lucians: Daren Sammy; Johnson Charles; KeddyLesporis; Larry Edward and Johnnel Eugene.