[UPDATED] Ex-Amazon Warriors manager lauds CPL emerging players tournament

FORMER team manager of Guyana Amazon Warriors Omar Khan, gave the idea of having an additional Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament a thumbs up after director of cricket at Cricket West Indies Miles Bascombe made the announcement yesterday.

The tournament will be held for emerging players in May 2025 in an effort to unearth new talent and give more players the opportunity to play.

Bascombe made the revelation during a Cricket West Indies media conference on April 8 in Barbados.

"We always recognise in terms of T20 cricket that we need a way to find our next crop of T20 players," Bascombe said.

The West Indies, along with US, will host the 2024 T20 World Cup from June 1-29. Bascombe said a strong showing is expected from West Indies, but more can be done to find more players.

"We have had success in T20 cricket and I am sure that the head coaches are anticipating some more success as we play at home in this world cup, but we generally still have to work hard at finding our next crop of emerging T20 stars and there is some recognition that the CPL may not be necessarily where those stars would emerge.

"We are working with CPL to have an emerging players regional tournament that we are trying to have in May of next year, so that is something we can look forward to as well."

Bascombe said the details of the emerging CPL tournament are still being developed, but confirmed that it will be a tournament for regional players only. He could not say whether there will be an age requirement for the tournament.

Khan commended CWI for the idea. "The talks have been around for a while to get something like that...It gives emerging players and national players who did not get a chance to play T20 cricket, an opportunity to showcase their talent. I think it is a good thing and it is all about cricket development."

Khan said the more cricket is played, the more players will be discovered. "I can reference to what is happening now with the IPL (Indian Premier League) in India when you see (fast bowler) Mayank Yadav and all these young Indian players emerging out of this IPL that we never would have heard about. We could have a similar situation here where we have a number of young players.

"You will probably see some new Shamar Josephs, some new Brian Laras...we never knew existed." Joseph, a Guyanese, is a fast bowling sensation who burst onto the scene with a spectacular bowling effort against Australia to help West Indies draw a two-match Test series 1-1 in January.

Khan made the suggestion that every team in the new CPL tournament should have a specific number of youth players in their squad.

"In terms of development you (should) at least stipulate that you have Under-23s and Under-19s."

The CPL has made an effort in the past to give young players the chance to be part of a CPL franchise. Each team must have at least two emerging players (Under-23) in their squad.

Trinbago Knight Riders captain Kieron Pollard has said repeatedly that another CPL tournament should be created to find more talent.

In a 2021 interview, Pollard said, “For the last ten years or so, we have had, again, sort of the same guys playing T20 and sort of dominating as we go along,” he said.

“One of the things that for us that we need to do, especially in the Caribbean, is we need to have another tournament other than CPL, whereas we can unearth new talents."

This story was originally published with the title "CPL tournament for emerging players in 2025" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

A Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 tournament for emerging players will be held next year in an effort to unearth new talent and give more players the opportunity to play.

The announcement was made by Cricket West Indies (CWI) director of cricket Miles Bascombe during a media conference on April 8 in Barbados.

"We always recognise in terms of T20 cricket that we need a way to find our next crop of T20 players," Bascombe said.

The West Indies, along with US, will host the 2024 T20 World Cup from June 1-29. Bascombe said a strong showing is expected from West Indies, but more can be done to find more players.

"We have had success in T20 cricket and I am sure that the head coaches are anticipating some more success as we play at home in this world cup, but we generally still have to work hard at finding our next crop of emerging T20 stars and there is some recognition that the CPL may not be necessarily where those stars would emerge.

"We are working with CPL to have an emerging players regional tournament that we are trying to have in May of next year, so that is something we can look forward to as well."

Bascombe said the details of the emerging CPL tournament are still being developed, but confirmed that it will be a tournament for regional players only. He said it is uncertain whether there will be an age requirement for the tournament.

Trinbago Knight Riders captain Kieron Pollard has said repeatedly that another CPL tournament should be created to find more talent.