By Vinode Mamchan
(Trinidad Guardian) The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) officials have decided to stick with the COVID-19 protocols as outlined by Trinidad and Tobago’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Roshan Parasram and will be arriving in the country very soon to start putting things in place for the August 18 start.
After the government approved the tournament to be held exclusively in Trinidad and Tobago, it is understood that some team owners and international players were not too happy about the strict COVID-19 protocols that were put in place for foreigners coming into the country.
As laid out by the Ministry of Health, those coming in would have to provide a negative COVID-19 test on arrival. They will then be sent into self-isolation at the Hilton Hotel for seven days. On day seven they will be tested and once negative they will be allowed to join other players in small groups to train for the tournament. After another seven days, another test will be administered and once this is negative, the player would be able to join the rest of his teammates ahead of the tournament.
After discussions between health officials and CPL, it was decided that the strict protocols will be adhered too for the tournament to come off.
This means that over the next two weeks, players and officials will be flying into T&T for the start of their quarantine period ahead of the tournament. When Guardian Media Sports spoke to a few of the team managers of the franchises, they said that it has been a challenge mapping out routes for their international players to come into T&T. Barbados opened their international borders on July 12 and this country will be a hub for those coming into the country.
The officials and teams will all stay at the Hilton Hotel in what will be a bio-secure bubble for the duration of the tournament. The opening week of the tournament will be staged at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in South Trinidad, while the second week will be held at the iconic Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain. The third week, they are back at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy and will stay there for the knock out matches ahead of the finals which will be played on September 10.