(Trinidad Guardian) South African players Tabraiz Shamsi and Rassie Van der Dussen will not feature in this year’s Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 tournament this year.
Both men are having problems securing a travel visa to get to T&T in time for August 1 to go into quarantine ahead of the tournament. Shamsi was drafted by the Jamaica Tallawahs and manager Jeff Miller states that he has been trying to get the visa to no avail.
“Shamsi has been making appointments at the US Embassy in South Africa as well as the UK Embassy but every time he gets an appointment he then gets a message stating that it has been cancelled. It has been frustrating for him to get his visa. The two routes out are the US and England but he has not been getting an opportunity to be interviewed for his visa,” said Miller.
Also losing out on their international player is the St Kitts/Nevis Patriots who will have to do without the services of Rassie van der Dussen. The South African is also having problems in obtaining a visa to get out to the Caribbean.
The Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) so far have no problems with their international players according to CEO of Red Chillies Entertainment, the owners of the franchise.
“So far we have not had any problems with our international players pulling out for any reason.”
The Guyana Amazon Warriors is also reporting that they have not lost any of their foreign players with manager Omar Khan saying it is just a matter of working out his players’ flight arrangements as they are all still on board.
The Barbados Tridents have not lost any international players up until this point and so too the St Lucia Zouks. Earlier this week it was reported that some international players may turn away because of the strict COVID-19 protocols being enforced in T&T.
Guardian Media Sports understand that talks are still ongoing between the CPL and the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Roshan Parasram concerning the protocols.
Even team owners are said to be complaining about the length of time they will have to stay in quarantine if they come in with their teams into T&T.
The 2020 CPL tournament will be played from August 18 to September 10 and the entire tournament will take place in T&T at two venues, the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, San Fernando and the iconic Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain.
