ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC-Newly-appointed Leeward Islands head coach Reginald Benjamin will make the first pick when the second Player Draft of the West Indies Cricket Board’s Professional Cricket League takes place here tomorrow.
Fortunately Benjamin earned that right on his team’s misfortune in the 2014-15 Regional four-day tournament.
The selection order for this year’s Draft is the reverse order of the final league position of teams in the last tournament.
The Hurricanes finished at the bottom of the table last season and will be hoping to exploit new rules in the tournament to shore up their batting.
Each franchise will now have to include two players from outside of their home territory in the remaining five players drafted from the Player Pool, unlike last year when there was no stipulation.
The second change reduces the time allocated for each selector to make a pick in the Draft.
They have now been allotted two minutes – one less than last year – to complete their choices.
The new rules have triggered special interest among cricket enthusiasts eager to see how they will impact upon the selection of players on the six franchises.
While some teams will be looking to import batting talent from outside of their home territory to give backbone to their line-ups, others may use the Draft choices to add a bit more edge to their bowling.
The Draft will be conducted over five rounds has been organised with the goal of achieving an equitable distribution of the available player talent.
The list of pre-selected players and players that will form part of the Draft pool will be released today.
The new PCL draft will be staged at the Accra Beach Hotel in Barbados, starting at 1 p.m. and fans can view the “live” webcast on the WICB’s website, www.windiescricket.com.
