CPL international stars hurting West Indies future?

LOCAL cricket officials believe their should a be revision of rules in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) as permitting five international players to start in each team could hamper the development of young West Indies players.

In past tournaments, CPL teams were only allowed to field four players from outside the region in the starting XI. Other popular T20 leagues around the world adopt a similar format for the playing XI. In the Indian Premier League, four international players are allowed to start, and in the Big Bash League in Australia each team is only allowed two international players on match-day.

Young West Indies players are spending a lot of time on the bench during the CPL with the number of experienced international players around. Hashim Amla (Barbados Tridents), Colin Munro (Trinbago Knight Riders), Brendon McCullum (Trinbago Knight Riders), Shaoib Malik (Guyana Amazon Warriors), David Miller (Jamaica Tallawahs), David Warner (St Lucia Stars), Steve Smith (Barbados Tridents), Mohammad Irfan (Barbados Tridents), Chris Lynn (Trinbago Knight Riders), Ross Taylor (Jamaica Tallawahs) and Mahmudullah (St Kitts and Nevis Patriots) are just some of the top international players in the 2018 CPL.

Young Windies players finding it difficult to get consistent playing time are Anderson Phillip and Amir Jangoo of the Knight Riders, Shamar Springer, Tion Webster (Tridents), Alzarri Joseph, Fabian Allen (Patriots), Roshon Primus (Amazon Warriors) and Kirstan Kallicharan (Tallawahs).

Some experienced regional players are also struggling to get into the starting XI for their respective teams including Kevon Cooper (Knight Riders), Kemar Roach (Tallawahs), Jermaine Blackwood (Tallawahs) and Veerasammy Permaul (Amazon Warriors).

Glen Dwarika, a TT Under-15 selector and former Under-15 TT coach, wants to see the younger players featuring more prominently.

“We ought to have more of our regional players participating in the CPL. When you look at the performance, even of the younger (Windies) players, they are performing excellent. If you look at (Shimron) Hetmyer, he is a very good example and you have quite a lot of (talented) youngsters in the region.” Hetmyer played one of the innings of the tournament so far. The 21 year old scored an even 100 off 49 deliveries with 11 fours and five sixes to help the Amazon Warriors to a 71-run win over Tallawahs on August 18.

Dwarika said the reduced number of regional players playing may affect the future of West Indies cricket. “When you have fewer players playing and more foreign players in a particular team, I don’t think this will be a good idea in terms of building our players for the future,” Dwarika said.

Dwarika said young players need to develop as some of the region’s top T20 players can’t play forever. “The only way they would develop their cricket is if they play continuously...some of the older guys have been around a while like (Kieron) Pollard. We must have good replacements, and the only way we would be able to get good replacements is if they play continuously. It is all about learning,” Dwarika said.

Former West Indies cricketer and Queen’s Park administrator Bryan Davis, believes a tournament held in the West Indies must benefit regional players. Davis said, “You might say that the foreign players might be lifting the level of the competition, but the competition is playing in the West Indies, therefore you have to look after West Indies players...The five (international) players that are playing, I think it is a little unfair to the future of West Indies cricket and the development of our players.”

Richard Kelly, coach of Hillview College which includes Kallicharan, looks at the situation differently. He said, “The fact remains that this is a money-making business, and if the foreigners bringing the crowd, that is who they are going to play. Nobody wants to go to a game and it is kind of watered down because the locals not performing properly. This is why they bring the top foreigners to play. While we want the locals to get the exposure, we must remember that this is a money-making business and that is how they generating the crowd.”

Kelly said youngsters will still get to learn and develop, saying, “Being among those (international) players when they practising, they supposed to learn something from them. I know the international players will pass on information.”