Cricket West Indies (CWI) Director of Cricket, Miles Bascombe, confirmed during Monday’s CWI quarterly press conference that there are plans to introduce a domestic T20 tournament to the regional cricket calendar in 2025.
The former West Indies batsman says preparations will go into high gear after the CWI board of directors officially gave the green light for the addition of the tournament aimed at emerging T20 players.
The tournament will have a window of April to May 2025 will not be limited to a specific age-group.
“Now, I can confirm that the CWI board of directors have agreed to move forward with a domestic T20 league aimed at emerging T20 players and we will be doing that with the support of the CPL and we are targeting April to May 2025,” Bascombe said.
“Following the approval of the board, preparations for that tournament will definitely step into high gear and I am quite excited about that. The intention for this T20 tournament is for it to be at a very high standard. So, in every sense, these emerging players will get a taste of what it is like to play top-flight T20 cricket,” he added.
Bascombe was then asked about the possibility of age limitations to which he said, “there will be some limitations to ensure that we target the players who we are really trying to develop, which is an emerging group of players.”
“I can tell you that it is not Under-25. Simply because of the cycle in terms of having a T20 World Cup every two years, you can very well find a player in very short order being able to turn around as the coach said, and have the skill-sets to fill a role that is needed in the team,” he added.
Bascombe added that players with more than 10 matches worth of international T20 experience may not be eligible for the tournament with some limitations on List A T20 experience also being a possibility.
West Indies head coach Daren Sammy welcomed the addition of the tournament which he said will expose more players and increase the talent pool for the regional side in the shortest format.
“Since the Caribbean T20, we’ve found a gap in discovery of players,” Sammy said.
“I think with this addition will broaden the pool of local players. The international players are always easy to get but it will give more local players an opportunity to showcase their talent,” he added. (Sportsmax)
