Players could miss CPL for protocol breach says Hall

IF A Caribbean Premier League (CPL) player leaves the tournament bubble at the Hilton Hotel, St Ann's for an emergency issue or otherwise, that may be the end of their 2020 campaign.

Over 250 players and officials are expected to stay at the hotel. Everything has gone as planned for the CPL organisers as all players and officials who have been tested so far for covid19 are negative.

In a media release on Tuesday, the CPL said all the TT based Trinbago Knight Riders players tested negative for the virus.

On the rules of the bubble, CPL operations director Michael Hall said, "No one can leave the bubble without permission and without everyone fully understanding, in particular our medical panel, fully understanding the reasons for that departure. Depending on those circumstances the departure may have to end up being a permanent one. If somebody does leave the bio-secure environment without permission then they will be confined to their room for seven days of total isolation (on return) and be subject to returning two negative tests before they will be allowed to re-enter."

Hall was speaking to journalists on Zoom, on Tuesday.

The operations director said because the tournament will be played over three and a half weeks a player may miss the entire tournament if they leave the bubble. “Quite frankly if someone were to do that (leave the bubble) at the start of the tournament it would render them unavailable, the tournament window being so short. That’s what would happen if somebody were to do it, but we certainly not expecting anyone to do so.”

Hall said any permission to leave the bubble would have to be approved by the CPL’s medical advisory committee.

The local TKR players will join the bubble “over the coming days” according to a CPL release and will have to follow all the covid19 guidelines. The 11 local TKR players were not in quarantine previously.

St Lucia Zouks captain Daren Sammy did not seem pleased that the local TKR players have been training outside the bubble over the past week. On Twitter, Sammy said, “How can everybody else be in a bubble no access to training or practice games, while others on the outside in a covid infected area be training and playing practice games. Then allow to join the bubble without self isolation.”

In another tweet he said, “Everyone should have been in the bubble from day one. That the only way you can guarantee everyone’s health and safety is not compromised. But hey I’m no covid expert.”

Guyana Amazon Warriors manager Omar Khan, who is Trinidadian, started his quarantine on Tuesday. Khan is comfortable with the rules of the tournament saying it was “clear.”

Khan does not think the TKR players have an advantage because they have been training since August 3.

“Let’s face it they are home. Obviously because of the covid19 situation the tournament is being held in TT. If the tournament was held in Jamaica or in Barbados the home team would have had the same advantage.

“At the end of the day those, as far as I am concerned, are not issues I would even bother about,“ Khan added.

A letter by the CPL’s chief medical officer Dr Akshai Mansingh to the five visiting CPL teams (Zouks, Amazon Warriors, defending champions Barbados Tridents, Jamaica Tallawahs and St Kitts/Nevis Patriots), said, “They (Government) have not restricted movements of their (TT) citizens as they have not had large community spread. This of course could change in the future.”

The players who have been at the bubble since early August have had time to do personal work at the hotel which will help avoid injuries.

“We were able, with the consent of the Chief Medical Officer of TT (Dr Roshan Parasram), to get the guys who are here in the Hotel at the Hilton an opportunity to actually begin doing some work and stretching their legs from as early as last week Friday night.”

Players have been using the tennis courts on the facility to do running and spot bowling and they have been using the gym.

“I agree it is not ideal, but I think we have done the best we can in the circumstances and we certainly hope and pray that the injuries will be minimal. Obviously there is another situation that we don’t want to even contemplate and that would be if somebody returns a positive test, but we certainly not anticipating that.”

In terms of the match rules, Hall said the Decision Review System will not be used this year and the International Cricket Council (ICC) concussion protocol will be implemented.

The ICC concussion management guidelines says, “A concussed player requires a formal medical clearance to return to training and play and never permitted to return on the day of the injury. Usually a player will recover in about seven days but this can vary from individual to individual.”

The CPL has also put measures in place to avoid players using saliva on the ball because of covid19.

Hall said, “If the bowling team is in violation of that there will be a warning, there will be a final warning (following that) and if there is a third offence five penalty runs will be assessed against the bowling team when they begin their innings.”