By BV Swagath
The Caribbean Premier League has announced the names of 12 iconic players and also the Coaches for the six franchises that will be taking part in the inaugural edition. The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) which is funded by Venus International Bank has replaced the Caribbean Twenty20 which was held from 2010 to 2013. The inaugural edition of the CPL will begin in July this year.
The CPL has suffered a blow even before it started with veteran cricketer Adam Gilchrist pulling out of the tournament with an ankle injury. The six teams that will play in the first season represent Antigua, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago. While six West Indian players and six overseas players are pre-assigned to the teams, the remaining players – West Indies internationals, Overseas players, Domestic players and Under-23 players will go through a draft which will be held on June 5th.
The beauty of the CPL will be that a West Indian player may not be playing for his country in the tournament – for instance, Jamaica’s Marlon Samuels will be playing for Antigua and Trinidad & Tobago’s Kieron Pollard will be playing for Barbados.
Following are the Marquee players and Coaches of CPL:
Antigua: Marlon Samuels and Ricky Ponting; Head Coach: Vivian Richards, Assistant Coach: Phillip DeFreitas
Barbados: Kieron Pollard and Shoaib Malik; Head Coach: Desmond Haynes, Assistant Coach: Robin Singh
Guyana: Sunil Narine and Mohammad Hafeez; Head Coach: Roger Harper, Assistant Coach: Curtly Ambrose
Jamaica: Chris Gayle and Muttiah Muralitharan; Head Coach: Paul Nixon, Assistant Coach: Junior Bennett
St Lucia: Darren Sammy and Herschelle Gibbs; Head Coach: Andy Roberts, Assistant Coach: Matthew Maynard
Trinidad & Tobago: Dwayne Bravo and Ross Taylor; Head Coach: Gordon Greenidge, Assistant Coach: David Williams
Each franchise will consists of a squad of 15 players – 2 players preselected (one West Indian and one Overseas), Four Elite Players (West Indian and Overseas), Seven Eligible Players (active domestic players) and Two Under-23 players.
List of International Elite Players
· Umar Akmal
· Shoaib Malik
· Steven Smith
· Aaron Finch
· Dirk Nannes
· Luke Pomersbach
· Shakib Al Hasan
· Tamim Iqbal
· Albie Morkel
· Vernon Philander
· Daniel Vettori
List of International West Indies Elite Players
· Tino Best
· Shivnarine Chanderpaul
· Ramnaresh Sarwan
· Kieran Powell
· Johnson Charles
· Dwayne Smith
· Kemar Roach
· Lendl Simmons
· Andre Russell
· Ravi Rampaul
· Denesh Ramdin
· Fidel Edwards
· Darren Bravo
· Samuel Badree
