Caribbean Premier League 2021: All you need to know

The CPL returns for its ninth edition and The Cricketer has all the information you need to know

The Cricketer | 21/08/2021 at 14:00

Caribbean Premier League 2021 squads

Caribbean Premier League 2021 fixtures

What is it?

The ninth edition of the Caribbean Premier League, a six-team T20 competition run by Cricket West Indies.

When is it?

The 2021 CPL beings on Thursday, August 26 when defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders take on Guyana Amazon Warriors at Warner Park, Basseterre. The three-week-long tournament runs for 33 matches, culminating in the final on Wednesday, September 15.

Where is it?

The entire tournament will be staged at Warner Park in St Kitts & Nevis.

Which teams are involved?

There are six teams involved in ninth edition of the CPL. They are founder members Barbados Royals (formerly Barbados Tridents), Guyana Amazon Warriors, Jamaica Tallawahs, Saint Lucia Kings (formerly Saint Lucia Zouks), and Trinbago Knight Riders, and 2015 addition St Kitts & Nevis Patriots.

Trinbago Knight Riders are the most successful team in CPL history, lifting the trophy in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2020. Jamaica Tallawahs (2013, 2016) and Barbados Royals (2014, 2019) have two titles each. The Royals were also runners-up in 2015.

Guyana Amazon Warriors have reached the final on five occasions while St Kitts & Nevis Patriots and Saint Lucia Kings have one final appearance apiece.

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^{Kieron Pollard captained Trinbago Knight Riders to their fourth CPL title in 2020}

What’s the format?

The competition is a double round-robin format with two points available for a win, one point for no result and zero points for a defeat. The top four teams progress to the knockout stages, with first playing fourth and second playing third in the two semi-finals. The two winners contest the final.

What happened in CPL 2020?

Trinbago Knight Riders dominated last year’s competition, winning all 10 group matches to finish eight points clear at the top of the table. Guyana Amazon Warriors pipped Saint Lucia Kings to second place on net run rate while Jamaica Tallawahs took the final qualification spot with three wins, six defeats and one no result. Barbados Royals and St Kitts & Nevis Patriots were eliminated in the group stage, with the latter winning just one match.

In the knockout stage, Trinbago Knight Riders cruised past Jamaica Tallawahs with five overs to spare to set up a trophy match with Saint Lucia Kings. The Kings had bowled Guyana Amazon Warriors out for just 55 runs in their semi-final, a total they chased down inside five overs.

Trinbago Knight Riders triumphed by eight wickets in the final, completing an unbeaten season and lifting their fourth CPL title.

Who are the overseas players?

There are three English players to watch out for in the 2021 CPL. White-ball veterans Ravi Bopara and Samit Patel will represent St Kitts & Nevis Patriots and Saint Lucia Kings, respectively, while spinner Jake Lintott, who has impressed for Birmingham Bears and Southern Brave this summer, could make his overseas franchise debut for Barbados Royals.

Other notable overseas players include South Africa duo Imran Tahir (Guyana Amazon Warriors) and Faf du Plessis (Saint Lucia Kings), New Zealand trio Colin Munro, Tim Seifert (both Trinbago Knight Riders), and Glenn Phillips (Barbados Royals), upcoming Afghanistan bowlers Naveen Ul Haq (Guyana) and Qais Ahmad (Jamaica Tallawahs), former Sri Lanka captain Thisara Perera (Barbados), and no fewer than nine Pakistan internationals, including Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez (both Guyana), Wahab Riaz (Saint Lucia), and Haider Ali (Jamaica).

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^{Samit Patel (L), Tim David (C), and Faf du Plessis (R) are among the overseas players involved in the CPL}

However, Singapore’s Tim David, who will represent Saint Lucia Kings, is perhaps the overseas player to watch. The 25-year-old allrounder has scored 340 runs at a strike rate of 150.44 in 10 appearances for Surrey in the recent Royal London One-Day Cup and has an equally impressive T20 strike rate of 155.09.

Overall, 30 overseas players will take part, consisting of nine Pakistanis, three players each from England, South Africa, Afghanistan, and New Zealand, two apiece from Australia, Sri Lanka, and USA, and one from Singapore (David), India (Smit Patel), and the Netherlands (Paul van Meekeren).