The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket

The Caribbean Premier League comes of age

Mon, Aug 13, '18

by KRISSANIA YOUNG

Caribbean Premier League

The Indian Premier League is indeed the benchmark for franchise T20 and is incomparable but as the nation with arguably the world’s biggest T20 stars the West Indies have a duty to give the Indians a proper chase. In that stead, the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) got underway in midweek in an electrifying atmosphere at the Queens’s Park Oval in Trinidad where the Trinbago Knight Riders defeated the St. Lucia Stars by 100 runs.

The CPL has indeed been a franchise league since it’s inception but this might be the first season that has this ‘feel’; with Pollard (no longer Sammy) captaining the St. Lucia Stars, Shoaib Malik leading the Guyana Amazon Warriors and Chris Gayle in his second season with the St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots. A foreigner leading the GAW and Gayle with the Patriots are not new but these along with the other slight changes are helping the Caribbean fans accept and even welcome the CPL for what it is–a franchise league.

The Caribbean people though still need a sense of ‘home’ within the teams. For this reason, it seems important that Sammy stay with the the Stars (even if not as a leader), the Jamaica Tallawahs don’t lose the likes of Andre Russell and that young emerging stars be included in their local based franchises.

Excitement in this format of the game is a certainty. However, indexes of a league that will attract viewers and players alike are the atmosphere and passion. As seen in both Trinidad and Guyana the past two weeknights, these are areas which the CPL is already winning. Acceptably, the IPL is way out in front and probably will never be caught but the CPL can aim to make it a non-argument as to which league is the most desirous following the IPL.

The Caribbean must improve the quality of young stars and/ breakthrough players which are produced and introduced to the world through playing cricket louder. We see players like Ishan Kishan and Rishabh Pant (the 20 year old Indian who was the 2nd highest run-scorer in IPL 2018) delivering despite their youth. Even though the IPL attracts the best in world, there is still a balance with the opportunities being given to their young players.

For the West Indies region however, the onus does not fall solely on the CPL. We see young Keemo Paul who was brought into the Windies set-up earlier this year because of an injury to Seldon Cottrell during the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier. He has since gone on to make his Test Debut, to being giving final over duties for both Windies (in T20Is) and the GAW. We may also take a look at Shimron Hetmyer, who we can argue was unfortunately left out at the start of the Windies’ Test Summer. The young man has since then put his head down, showing maturity beyond his years and put his hand up–for which he has also been rewarded by the GAW.

The Hero CPL has a flurry of international stars (from right here in the Caribbean), the atmosphere & passion to attract foreign stars along with the beauty of the islands. If there’s anything that rivals international stars attracting supporters and viewers; it’s young emerging players. We look forward to a CPL18 where the youngsters rise up, raise eye-brows and get noticed.