CWI backs Guyana’s push for World Super League T20 tourney

GUYANA President Dr Irfan Ali has announced Guyana’s plans to launch a World Super League Twenty/20 tournament in the near future — a tournament which he hopes will serve as a replacement to the now defunct Champions League T20.

Ali made the announcement during his virtual presentation on day one of the April 25-26 Caricom Regional Cricket Conference — Reinvigorating West Indies Cricket — at the Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain.

If the vision of Ali and the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) comes to life, the World Super League tournament will see Guyana hosting eight of the world’s best franchise teams in an exciting invitational competition over a week or two-week period.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) CEO Johnny Grave confirmed the regional body’s receipt of a proposal from Guyana, and he says CWI will now submit its own proposal to the International Cricket Council (ICC) in early May with a view to hosting the inaugural edition of the Wolrd Super Leauge later this year.

The Caribbean Premier League (CPL), which will host the 12th edition of its tournament from August 29 to October 6, has given the go-ahead for the GCB and CWI in its quest to launch the World Super League.

“We’re working with the GCB to try and find a suitable window that works for both Guyana and West Indies cricket,” Grave told Newsday at the regional cricket conference.

“The assumption, I think, you can safely say it will feature the Guyana Amazon Warriors. The CPL has effectively given its blessing, which is one of the stipulations of their sanctioning agreement with us.

“It obviously will require ICC sanctioning because it requires four or more international players. The view is for it to become an established event in our cricket eco-system,” Grave continued.

The then-popular Champions League T20 spanned from 2008-2014 and involved the winning teams from various T20 leagues across the world. Both TT and Guyana had representation in the Champions League T20, with superstar players such as Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine coming into their own.

Ali wants to recreate and even surpass the popularity of the Champions League T20.

“The intention in all the conversations we have had with Guyana has been around the Guyana Amazon Warriors, along with other invited T20 teams from the other franchise leagues, to come and play in this event,” Grave said.

“Whether it will actually be the winners of the respective tournaments, I don’t know at this stage. But that’s the intention. It’s something we will get behind and it will be great for not only Guyana but West Indies as well.”

Grave hopes the CWI can receive the all-clear from the ICC before the Amazon Warriors begin their CPL title defence in August.

“ICC takes a minimum of three months for their approvals to go through, so hopefully we can put an application in early May and we hope to have approval prior to CPL taking place.”

During his address at the conference, Dr Ali called for the “redefining of the eco-system of Cricket West Indies” and he said the regional game should do all in its power to set itself apart from the world when it comes to the atmosphere and vibrancy which is created at matches.