Caribbean Premier League – “How It All Started”

Noticing Twenty20 (T20) cricket league’s ability to attract huge crowds to stadiums, all cricket-loving countries such as India, Australia, England Bangladesh, and Pakistan launched their local versions.

Not to be left behind, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) launched the Caribbean Premier League, also known as CPLT20, in the year 2013. It is now known as the Hero CPL as it is sponsored by the Indian-based Hero MotoCorp.

Digicel, a West Indian mobile network, was, however, was the first sponsor for the inaugural CPL 2013 tournament while El Dorado Rum was its official partner, sponsoring the Catch of the Match, which was awarded to one player in each of the matches. In 2019, the number of other official partners has grown to five, besides seven official sponsors.

Six teams take part in the CPL T20 tournament where each of them plays a minimum of ten matches in the group stage. The matches are played in eight venues, including one in the US state of Florida. Just like in the other T20 tournaments, overseas players from the major cricketing nations partake in this tournament.

The following are the teams that participate in CPL each year:

1. Barbados Tridents
2. Guyana Amazon Warriors
3. Jamaica Tallawahs
4. St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots
5. St. Lucia Zouks
6. Trinbago Knight Riders

Earlier, Antigua Hawksbills franchise participated in 2013 and 2014. St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots franchise replaced it in 2015. Meanwhile, St. Lucia Zouks made its debut in 2016, replacing St Lucia Stars that featured in the years before that.