The 2021 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will be hosted completely in St. Kitts and Nevis with the tournament bowling off on August 28 in the presence of a 50 percent crowd.
This was announced by the league’s Chief Operations Officer, Pete Russell and Minister of Education in St. Kitts and Nevis, Jonel Powell yesterday at a virtual press conference.
Russell admitted that there was no tendering process through which St. Kitts had acquired the rights to host the event but said that the two have been in discussion for a number of years.
“Yesterday, the federal cabinet would have approved the renewing of the hosting agreement between St Kitts and Nevis and CPL, thus ensuring that for another five years, St Kitts and Nevis will have the benefit of the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, all the rights that come with them, and the right to host matches in relation to the CPL,” Powell stated.
He added, “It is my pleasing duty to announce that yesterday, the federal cabinet of St Kitts and Nevis, approved the hosting of the entire 2021 CPL tournament here in St Kitts and Nevis, to be held at Warner Park in Basseterre, St. Kitts.”
According to Powell, the twin-island has handled their COVID-19 situation relatively
well, stating “We also have taken into consideration our own track record in relation to the COVID 19 pandemic and the fact that we’ve been able to weather that storm pretty well. To date we’ve had 44 positive cases of COVID-19 with no death and no serious illnesses and so we are confident in our ability to contribute to sport and in this regard the CPL.”
Powell pointed out that crowds will be allowed to witness the action live but stands will only be half filled with patrons who have been fully vaccinated.
“I am happy to announce that as of the 15th of May, 2021, St Kitts and Nevis will be allowing patrons to attend all sporting events to the extent of capacity of 50% of the venue, and those patrons will have to be fully vaccinated with an approved COVID-19 vaccine. This will extend to all sporting events and include CPL so we are looking forward to hosting at least 50% of the capacity of all venues in terms of patrons who have been fully vaccinated. We are confident in our ability to pull off this tournament in a grand fashion, but in a healthy way and so we look forward to the opportunity to continue partnering with the CPL and ensure that game of cricket continues to flourish in St Kitts and the Caribbean,” Powell highlighted.
It was also revealed that the 33-match event will see teams utilising other venues to train. Teams will also be finalized by next month end but Russell hinted that there has been a lot of changes during the off-season.
“So, the draft will be towards the end of May. So, we’re still working on the final date but it’ll be around the 26 of May, so that’s when we’ll finally find out exactly who’s going to be competing with whom I can assure everyone that there’s been quite a lot of movement in terms of some of the teams during the close season so there’ll be one or two surprises when we come to the draft,” he said.
