Kingsmen won’t use new franchise tag to settle, says Powell
Calls on local youngsters to "learn fast."
Captain Rovman Powell insists the Jamaica Kingsmen will bring their best for this season's Caribbean Premier League despite it being their first in the competition.
The Kingsmen franchise is the second Jamaican-based team to participate in the CPL after the Tallawahs, which was made defunct following the 2023 season.
Powell says this does not give his team a free pass to let the standards slip.
“No, it's not a case of settling,” Powell began. “A lot has been invested from a financial standpoint with getting the franchise and those kinds of things. With us as cricketers, our careers are at stake. It's not a matter of settling. Each and every year you want to get better. So we [will] see how best we can perform this year, and then each year we see if we can go a little bit better.”
Powell thinks the young Jamaican core has a key role to play not just this season but also in the franchise's long-term future, but says they will need to adapt quickly.
"There are a lot of youngsters within our team, young Jamaicans: Vitel Lawes, Jeavor Royal, and Kirk McKenzie. All of them are in the infancy of their international or elite cricketing careers. I think that's solid ground, a solid footing on which they have started. It's just for those young players to learn and learn fast.”
Coming into the season, Royal, who turns 28 later this year, played 23 CPL games over four seasons, with McKenzie, 26 in November, featuring in 14. Neither has played a white-ball international. Meanwhile, 19-year-old Lawes, who featured in five ODIs against New Zealand last month, including his debut, got his first taste of CPL action in the Kingsmen opener on Friday night.
“Sometimes you are young in terms of cricketing experience, but not necessarily young in terms of age. So there's a difference between the young that we talk about,” Powell admitted.
“It's definitely going to take some time for them to understand what is required at this level. But with the talent that they have, they will be okay.”
Still, Powell, who captained the Tallawahs to their last of three CPL titles in 2023, says having a young local nucleus is a “bonus” for the project the Kingsmen have embarked upon.
“Anytime you start a programme, like what Kingsmen have done with us, in investing so much in cricket in Jamaica, you have to start with a young core. If you don't have a plan for the future, then you don't have any plan.”
Now, with the return of a Jamaican franchise comes the return of cricket to Sabina Park for the first time since 2019. The Kingsmen first host the Barbados Tridents this evening, then the Guyana Amazon Warriors on Thursday, before taking on the Trinbago Knight Riders on Saturday. They close out their home leg on Tuesday against the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
The 33-year-old Powell is anticipating the return of the supporters to the stadium in what he describes as a “new journey” for the sport in Jamaica.
“Exciting times for us as a cricketing country. CPL Cricket hasn't been in Jamaica for the last six years, so it's definitely exciting times. Hopefully we can give the fans a win. But what I'm looking forward to is people coming out and supporting us as we start a new journey here in cricket.”