GAW to face TKR in CPL 2020 opener

The CPL fixtures

The fixture for the 2020 HERO Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has been released with last year’s beaten finalist the Guyana Amazon Warriors playing the first match against hosts, Trinbago Knight Riders at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba from 10.00 hours.

The opener will be followed by defending champions, Barbados Tridents opening their defence against St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots at 17.30 hours.

Due to the Novel Coronavirus pandemic, CPL has confirmed that the tournament will be played in Trinidad and Tobago alone from August 18 to September 10.

The six-team tournament will see a number of double headers being played each day with 33 matches scheduled. Twenty three (23) of those will be played at Tarouba including the final and semis while 10 will be contested at the Queen’s Park Oval.

According to a release from the organizers, “The tournament will take place behind closed doors in a bio-secure environment with a series of stringent protocols in place to protect those involved in the tournament and the wider population from the spread the COVID-19 virus.”

The release also indicated CPL’s Chief Executive Officer, Damien O’Donohoe, was excited about the upcoming season.

“This year will be a different CPL, but the standard will be higher than ever. We have seen the appetite for live sport since it has returned after a prolonged absence, and the interest in CPL will be higher than ever with it being the first franchise T20 tournament to return,” he declared.

Speaking about the announcement of the tournament fixtures Hero CPL’s COO, Pete Russell, said “We would like to express our gratitude to the government of Trinidad & Tobago for helping us to put on this tournament in such difficult circumstances. We are delighted that we are able to deliver a tournament that is ensuring the safety of the public and the players and that will be of such a high standard.”