The 10th edition of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) bowls off on Wednesday with 2021 champions St Kitts and Nevis Patriots facing off against the Jamaican Tallawahs at Warner Park, St Kitts and Nevis.
This year’s 34 matches will be played at four venues - St Kitts and Nevis (7 matches); St Lucia (8 matches); T&T (8 matches) and Guyana (11 matches), who will host the eliminator, two qualifiers and grand final on September 3.
This edition of the CPL will also see the historic commencement of the Women's CPL (WCPL), which involves the Trinbago Knight Riders; Barbados Royal and the Guyana Amazon Warriors.
The six franchises in the Men's CPL (MCPL) are:
Barbados Royals (BR)- South African white ball specialist David Miller will be at the helm, replacing Jason Holder, who led the BR (then Barbados Tridents) to the 2019 title. Other key players are all-rounders Kyle Mayers, Jason Holder, wicketkeeper/batter Quinton de Kock (South Africa), off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Afghanistan), leg-spinner Hayden Walsh and fast bowlers Obed McCoy and Oshane Thomas.
Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW)- Captain Shimron Hetmyer will depend on the batting of wicket-keepers Shai Hope and Heinrich Klaasen (South Africa), and the experience of Paul Sterling (Ireland) and Colin Ingram (South Africa). His spin bowling arsenal will include two South African match winners in Imran Tahir and Tabraiz Shamsi, supported by Veerasammy Permaul and Gudakesh Motie. Odean Smith and Romario Sheppard offer a combination of fast bowling and explosive lower batting.
Jamaica Tallawahs - The explosive Rovman Powell will lead the Tallawahs in an attempt to recapture the title they last won in 2016. The squad includes Brandon King, Sharmarh Brooks, Raymond Reifer, Amir Jangoo, and Fabian Allen. The overseas players include seasoned campaigners - Imad Wasim and Mohammad Amir (Pakistan), Migael Pretorius (South Africa), Sandeep Lamichhane (Nepal) and Australian Chris Green.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots - The evergreen Dwayne Bravo will be starting the 2022 season with the goal of repeating their 2021 victory. Bravo will be supported by the batting of Andre Fletcher, Sherfane Rutherford, Joshua Da Silva, Evin Lewis, Darren Bravo, Keacy Carty and Dewald Brevis, also known as ‘Baby AB’ (South Africa), the 2022 ICC U19 World Cup player of the tournament after scoring 506 runs with two centuries and three fifties. The bowling attack will be led by Sheldon Cottrell, Jon-Russ Jaggersar, leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga (Sri Lanka) and the South African medium-fast allrounder Dwaine Pretorius.
St Lucia Kings - The batting will rely on South Africa’s Faf Du Plessis and the Singaporean-Australian Tim David, Mark Deyal, and Johnson Charles. The bowling attack depends on the vastly experienced South African-Namibian all-rounder David Wiese, Alzarri Joseph, Kesrick Williams and the right-arm fast Scott Kuggeleijn (New Zealand).
Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) - Captain Kieron Pollard will be seeking to widen the distance between themselves and the rest of the pack by winning the title for the fifth time in its 10th edition given the squad that TKR has been able to assemble. The batting compartment includes Tion Webster, Andre Russell, Nicholas Pooran and New Zealanders Tim Seifert and Colin Munro. Jayden Seales, Anderson Phillip and Ali Khan (USA) will lead the pace attack. There is an embarrassment of spinning variety, experience and options in the form of Sunil Narine, Akeal Hosein, Maheesh Theekshana and Seekkuge Prasanna (Sri Lanka) and Khary Pierre.
TKR has been the most successful team in the history of the CPL, having won the title on four occasions - 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2020. The Jamaica Tallawahs were the inaugural winners in 2013 and again in 2016. The Barbados Royals were champions in 2015 and 2019. The St Kitts and Nevis Patriots became the fourth franchise to win the CPL in 2021 by defeating the St Lucia Kings. The Guyana Amazon Warriors have an unenviable record of copping five runner's up finishes.
Inaugural Final 2013, Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain, T&T
Jamaica Tallawahs won by 7 wickets
Guyana Amazon Warriors 5/128 (20)
Lendl Simmons 40; Denesh Ramdin 29; David Bernard 2/18
Jamaica Tallawahs 3/129 (17.3)
Christopher Gayle 47 not out; Andre Russell 33 not out
Player of the Match: Christopher Gayle- Jamaica Tallawahs
Player of the Series: Krishmar Santokie- Guyana Amazon Warriors
2014, Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis
Barbados Tridents won by 8 runs (D/L method)
Barbados Tridents 6/152 (20)
Dwayne Smith 59; Shoaib Malik 55 not out; Krishmar Santokie 3/19; Sunil Narine 2 2/20
Guyana Amazon Warriors (Target 116 from 15.5 overs) 4/107 (15.5)
Mohammed Hafeez 28; Lendl Simmons 20; Jason Holder 2/18
Player of the Match: Shoaib Malik - Barbados Tridents
Player of the Series: Lendl Simmons - Guyana Amazon Warriors
2015, Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain, T&T
T&T Red Steel won by 20 runs
T&T Red Steel 5/178 (20)
Kamran Akmal 60; Cameron Delport 50; Dwayne Bravo 29 not out; Kieron Pollard 2/28
Barbados Trident 4/158 (20)
Dwayne Smith 49; Misbah-ul-Haq 21; Steven Taylor 20; Kyle Corbin 20; Kieron Pollard 20 not out; Jason Holder 20 not out; Sulieman Benn 2/24
Player of Match: Kamran Akmal- T&T Red Steel
Player of the Series: Dwayne Bravo- T&T Red Steel
2016, Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis
Jamaica Tallawahs won by 9 wickets
Guyana Amazon Warriors 93 all out (16.1)
Sohail Tanvir 42; Dwayne Smith 17; Imad Wasim 3/21; Shakib Al Hasan 2/25; Kesrick Williams 2/12
Jamaica Tallawahs 1/95 (12.5)
Christopher Gayle 54 not out; Chadwick Walton 25; Kumar Sangakkara 12 not
Player of Match: Imad Wasim- Jamaica Tallawahs
Player of the Series: Andre Russell- Jamaica Tallawahs
2017, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba, T&T
Trinbago Knight Riders won by 3 wickets
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 6/135 (20)
Carlos Brathwaite 30 not out; Jonathan Carter 21; Brandon King 19; Mohammad Nabi 18 not out; Kevon Cooper 2/12; Jervon Searles 2/29
Trinbago Knight Riders 7/136 (19)
Colin Munro 29; Kevon Cooper 29 not out; Denesh Ramdin 26 not out; Hamza Tariq 18
Mohammed Hafeez 2/20; Tabraiz Shamsi 2/20; Sheldon Cottrell 2/21
Player of Match: Kevon Cooper- Trinbago Knight Riders
Player of the Series: Chadwick Walton- Guyana Amazon Warriors
2018, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba, T&T
Trinbago Knight Riders won by 8 wickets
Guyana Amazon Warriors 9/147 (20)
Luke Ronchi 44; Jason Mohammed 24; Shimron Hetmyer 15; Rayad Emrit 14 not out
Khary Pierre 3/29; Dwayne Bravo 2/30
Trinbago Knight Riders 2/150 (17.3)
Colin Munro 68 not out; Brendon McCullum 39; Denesh Ramdin 24
Player of Match: Khary Pierre- Trinbago Knight Riders
Player of the Series: Colin Munro- Trinbago Knight Riders
2019, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba, T&T
Barbados Tridents won by 27 runs
Barbados Tridents 6/171 (20)
Jonathan Carter 50 not out; Johnson Charles 39; Alex Hales 28; Ashley Nurse 19 not out
Guyana Amazon Warriors 9/144 (20)
Brandon King 43; Keemo Paul 25; Nicholas Pooran 24
Raymond Reifer 4/24; Ashley Nurse 2/17; Harry Gurney 2/24
Player of Match: Jonathan Carter- Barbados Tridents
Player of the Series: Hayden Walsh Jr.- Barbados Tridents
2020, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba, T&T
Trinbago Knight Riders won by 8 wickets
St Lucia Zouks 154 all out (19.1)
Andre Fletcher 39; Mark Deyal 29; Najibullah Zadran 24; Roston Chase 22
Kieron Pollard 4/30; Fawad Ahmed 2/22; Ali Khan 2/25
Trinbago Knight Riders 2/157 (18.1)
Lendl Simmons 84 not out; Darren Bravo 58 not out
Player of Match: Lendl Simmons- Trinbago Knight Riders
Player of the Series: Kieron Pollard- Trinbago Knight Riders
2021, Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots won by 3 wickets
St Lucia Kings 7/159 (20)
Rahkeem Cornwall 43; Roston Chases 43; Keemo Paul 39
Fawah Ahmed 2/32; Naseem Shah 2/26
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 7/160 (20)
Dominic Drakes 48 not out; Joshua Da Silva 37; Sherfane Rutherford 25; Fabian Allen 20
Wahab Riaz 2/36
Player of Match: Dominic Drakes - St Kitts and Nevis Patriots
Player of the Series: Roston Chase - St Lucia Kings
Editor’s Note: Anand Rampersad is the Head f the St Augustine Academy of Sport, UWI.