The Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and the University of the West Indies (UWI) Faculty of Sport have expanded their hugely successful internship programme for the 2024 tournament which gets underway on 29 August.
The programme is entering its eighth year and this season there will be 18 places available for students to study for a three credit fully accreditedUWI Sports Marketing course.Those students will also be given the opportunity to put the skills they have learned into practice as part of the CPL’s marketing teamwith an internship at games of the 2024 tournament.
The programme has seen dozens of young people across the Caribbean get a fully integrated internship with the CPL team, with several of those interns then securingongoingpaid positions with the tournament.
LOCAL WOMEN sports administrators said the inclusion of three women in the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Board of Directors recently is welcome and an indication of the times.
Jamaica’s Diann Campbell was one of three women appointed to CWI’s board.
Louise Victor-Frederick of St Lucia joined Campbell as the other new appointee alongside accomplished Trinidadian attorney-at-law Debra Coryat-Patton, who makes a return to the board.
Former Netball Jamaica president Marva Bernard and sports consultant and administrator Carole Beckford said the inclusion of more women at the CWI board level can only be positive for West Indies cricket.
Bernard said it was significant that women were coming forward to serve in boardrooms of sports, which historically, are male-dominated, and that it is a sign that things are changing.
Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) president Azim Bassarath said local clubs may not receive grants for the ongoing 2024 season.
In an interview with Newsday on April 8, Bassarath addressed concerns by some clubs over the non-payment of grants.
Henry Chase, chairman of the premier league, on April 5, said the grants were still possible. “We are trying to give Premier II clubs $50,000 and Premier I clubs $100,000,” he said.
But Bassarath said, “We not sure whether the board will be paying grants this year. We not sure at this stage where our finances for the year will bring us.”
WEST Indies and Trinidadian great Deryck Murray says Cricket West Indies (CWI) needs to enhance how they govern the sport in the region so as to improve the performance of the team on the international stage.
The former wicketkeeper-batsman, who made his debut for the men’s team in 1963, was the vice-captain of the historic West Indies teams which won the World Cup in 1975 and 1979.
However, the Caribbean side is no longer a powerhouse of the game as they currently sit outside the top six of the men’s rankings in all formats — Tests, One-Day Internationals, and Twenty20 (T20).
Several board members reportedly rejected recommendations from the Wehby Governance Report, done by Jamaican Senator Don Wehby recently. The report was commissioned to help improve how cricket is run in the region. CWI President Kishore Shallow said, “It is disappointing that some resolutions did not find favour with the majority on this occasion,” in response to the proposals being rejected.
Murray says CWI needs to administer the sport more effectively so that progress can be made.
“One aspect that needs changing is the system of governance in West Indies Cricket. I think that needs to be worked to find a balance between the need to address cricket issues, and the need to address administrative issues,” he told the Jamaica Observer recently.
The fixtures for the 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) have been confirmed with the tournament set to run from Thursday 29 August to Sunday 6 October. For the first time since 2019 the event will visit six host countries with matches set to take place in Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago.
There will be 34 matches in total with each of the six teams playing 10 group matches. The knockout stages will take place in Guyana with the home team, the Guyana Amazon Warriors, looking to defend the title they won in 2023.
The tournament gets underway with the newest CPL franchise, the Antigua & Barbuda Falcons, hosting their nearest rivals the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots. The tournament will have two legs running concurrently with all six teams hosting home matches.
Michael Hall, Tournament Operations Director for the Republic Bank CPL, said: “We are looking forward to getting underway in Antigua & Barbuda with matches back in the country for the first time in 10 years. It is also very pleasing to be back having home matches for all six teams with the Biggest Party in Sport set to have an even wider footprint in 2024.”
