BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ORGANISERS of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has confirmed August 17-23 as the dates St. Kitts and Nevis would play host to that leg of the tournament.
The tournament, which is in its fifth year, bowls off on August 5 in St. Lucia with the home side taking on the Trinbago Kight Riders.
This year, the tournament is starting outside of its customary schedule owing to several international series being played on the regional scene, as well as the staging of the Champions Trophy, which means that a number of international stars would likely be unavailable earlier.
That 17-23 leg of the tournament in St. Kitts is being staged simultaneously with matches in Guyana.
In a statement announcing the dates of matches, organisers have indicated that “there will be the usual blend of day and night games, with the starting times to be announced shortly, and the St. Lucia opener will lead into two keenly-contested double-headers in Central Broward Stadium in Lauderhill, Florida (on the weekend of 5-6 August) where Guyana Amazon Warriors will face Chris Gayle’s St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots and Barbados Tridents squaring off against reigning champions Jamaica Tallawahs in back-to-back games”.
Following the United States leg, action moves to Trinidad & Tobago which will run simultaneously with the St. Lucia leg of matches (from the week of 7 to 15 August).
Guyana and St. Kitts & Nevis will then swing into action with the hosting (from 17-23 August), after which Jamaica (from 25 August – 1 September) and Barbados (from 29 August – 3 September) will do the same.
Though there are many rumours circulating around the region about the games being played in Singapore, CPL organisers indicated that they would make an announcement at a later date where the Finals week would be played.
However, the dates for those matches have already been confirmed. According to the CPL statement, “Finals week will begin with a play-off on Tuesday, 5 September before the two eliminators and the Finals, which will round off the 2017 tournament on Saturday, 9 September.”
In an interview with local radio station WINN FM, Minister of Sports Hon. Shawn Richards had indicated similar dates and noted that only four home games would be played at Warner Park.
The Minister stated that payments were up to date when it comes to staging of matches this year.
“St. Kitts-Nevis is slated to host CPL matches this year. If I can recall correctly, the games are scheduled to be held August 19th, 21st, 23rd and 24th. We made the final payment towards the hosting of these matches during the course of this week so that from a financial position we are in a position to host the matches.”
Regional Governments have been known to pay out monies to stage matches in the biggest party in sport, and last year Government officials in St. Kitts and Nevis had reportedly paid a huge sum to stage the final weekend, as did the former Administration back in 2014.
The Patriots will open their home encounter against the Barbados Tridents on Friday, August 18, followed by a clash on the August 19 against the St. Lucia Stars. Two days later they will go up against the Jamaica Tallawahs and close out against the Trinbago Knight Riders on August 23.
