Tournament Set To Bowl Off Next Month

Tournament logo.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) on Thursday announced the details for the inaugural Caribbean T20 Tournament which will be played from July 22 to 31. The tournament, which will form part of the annual WICB calendar, will have the first phase played in Barbados (July 22 to 25) with the second phase in Trinidad (July 28 to 31).

Eight teams will be involved in the Caribbean T20. The West Indies territorial teams: Barbados, Combined Campuses and Colleges, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago and Windward Islands will be joined by an international team. There is a huge incentive to win the Caribbean T20, with the leading regional team going on to represent the West Indies at the Airtel Champions League in South Africa in September.

The WICB also unveiled the lively, colourful, Caribbean T20 tournament logo and the tournament banner ­– which urges fans to “Bring It Back” and come out, wave their flags, play their music, and create a carnival atmosphere at the matches to celebrate what promises to be a 10 days of action-packed cricket in the Caribbean. This follows the theme “Bring It” which was used during the successful hosting of the ICC World T20 Tournament in the West Indies in April and May.

Dr Ernest Hilaire, Chief Executive Officer of the WICB said: “This is a very exciting time for cricket in the West Indies. We just staged the hugely successful ICC World T20 Tournament and now we have the inaugural Caribbean T20 Tournament. We expect to see superb action on the field, from the region’s best players, and great excitement off the field, from the lovely Caribbean people in the stands. Cricket fans all across the world have fallen in love with Twenty20 cricket and we know they will be thrilled with what they see during the Caribbean T20.”

The format for the Caribbean T20 Tournament will be two groups of four teams. There will be a round robin stage in each group – each team will play three matches – with the top two teams in each group qualifying for the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals will advance to final while the losing semi-finalists will play a third-place play-off. The eight matches in Barbados will be played on July 22 to 25 and the eight matches in Trinidad will be played on July 28 to 31, with August 1 as the reserve day for the finals.

Matches will be played at 4 pm and 8 pm Eastern Caribbean Time/3 pm and 7 pm Jamaica Time; except on Sunday, July 25 when the start times will be 2 pm and 6 pm Eastern Caribbean Time/1 pm and 5 pm Jamaica Time.