(WICB) ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Next year’s Caribbean Twenty20 Tournament, to be staged from Sunday, January 6 to Sunday, January 20 in Trinidad and St. Lucia, will be played under a new format.
The marquee, annual West Indies Cricket Board tournament will feature the seven regional teams – Barbados, Combined Campuses & Colleges, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, reigning champions Trinidad & Tobago, and Windward Islands – in 23 matches.
The seven regional teams will contest a non-elimination, preliminary competition, with a new route for the teams to reach the Grand Final on Sunday, January 20 at the Beausejour Cricket Ground in St. Lucia.
Each team will play each other once. The team which finishes with the highest number of points after all of the preliminary matches will automatically qualify for the Grand Final.
The teams which finish second and third will qualify for the Playoff. The winner of the Playoff will be the other side to play in the Grand Final.
The winner of the tournament will qualify for a place in next year’s Champions League Twenty20.
“This format will allow the regional teams to increase the number of matches in a form of the game, which has become very popular around the World, and of which we are now World champions,” said WICB Manager, Cricket Operations Roland Holder.
“It was previously four, but now there are six matches each. This is in keeping with the WICB’s mandate to increase the amount of matches that teams are play at the regional level.”
Reigning champions T&T will face long-standing rivals Jamaica in the opening match of next year’s CT20 on home soil at the Queen’s Park Oval on Sunday, January 6, following the official opening ceremony.
There will be two matches played on the succeeding days of the tournament before the Playoff on Saturday, January 19, and the Grand Final on Sunday, January 20. All matches will be broadcast live on ESPN.
The Playoff and the Grand Final will be preceded by Twenty20 Internationals between West Indies Women and South Africa Women.
CARIBBEAN TWENTY20 TOURNAMENT
Schedule of matches
(AT QUEEN’S PARK OVAL, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad)
Sunday, January 6
Trinidad & Tobago vs Jamaica – 8 p.m.
Monday, January 7
Barbados vs Leeward Islands – 4 p.m.
Guyana vs Combined Campuses & Colleges – 8 p.m.
Tuesday, January 8
Jamaica vs Barbados – 4 p.m.
Trinidad & Tobago vs Combined Campuses & Colleges – 8 p.m.
Wednesday, January 9
Windward Islands vs Jamaica – 4 p.m.
Trinidad & Tobago vs Leeward Islands – 8 p.m.
Thursday, January 10
Combined Campuses & Colleges vs Windward Islands – 4 p.m.
Guyana vs Barbados – 8 p.m.
Friday, January 11
Leeward Islands vs Jamaica – 4 p.m.
Combined Campuses & Colleges vs Barbados – 8 p.m.
Saturday, January 12
Windward Islands vs Leeward Islands – 4 p.m.
Trinidad & Tobago vs Guyana – 8 p.m.
(AT BEAUSEJOUR CRICKET GROUND, Gros-Islet, St. Lucia)
Tuesday, January 15
Guyana vs Jamaica – 4 p.m.
Windward Islands vs Trinidad & Tobago – 8 p.m.
Wednesday, January 16
Combined Campuses & Colleges vs Leeward Islands – 4 p.m.
Barbados vs Trinidad & Tobago – 8 p.m.
Thursday, January 17
Leeward Islands vs Guyana – 4 p.m.
Windward Islands vs Barbados – 8 p.m.
Friday, January 18
Combined Campuses & Colleges vs Jamaica – 4 p.m.
Windward Islands vs Guyana – 8 p.m.
Saturday, January 19
Playoff
2nd Place vs 3rd Place – 8 p.m.
Sunday, January 20
Grand Final
1st Place vs Winner of Playoff – 8 p.m
