Attracting Best Cricket Talent and Worldwide Audience

By William Doyle-Marshall

    Until July 26 a series of Caribbean Premier League (CPL) cricket games is being played in Warner Park: St. Kitts; Kensington Oval, Barbados; Beausejour, St. Lucia; Providence: Guyana; Sabina Park: Jamaica, Guyana and Queen’s Park Oval: Trinidad and Tobago. These events are showcasing cricketing talent from the Caribbean region within the T20 League.

   Involved in the tournament are Barbados Trident; Jamaica Tallawahs; St. Lucia Zouks; St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots; Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel and Guyana Amazon Warriors

    The Caribbean Premier League was formed because organizers saw a need for a T20 Cricket Tournament in the region, says James Wynne, Head of Marketing for CPL. Some of the successful players in the Indian Premier League are players from the West Indies. “We saw the need that we could create this league here,” Wynne said. As a result CPL officials formed six franchise teams representing the six countries that host the games and on those teams are some of the best, not just from the West Indies but international T 20 players as well as well as the top local talent, Wynne confessed. The Caribbean Premier League started in 2013 and its first event was a huge success. “We started filling stadiums all over the region. Some of those stadiums hadn’t been full in like 20 years and it had been seen like a revitalization of cricket in the Caribbean because we all know it has such a rich heritage in this region. People are so passionate,” Wynne continued.

CPL Executives in St. Kitts James Wynne and David Brookes, director

  One of the very special thing about CPL, Wynne said is the fans. “The atmosphere of the games is absolutely fantastic and it is a very special carnival atmosphere that you don’t find anywhere else. I think that’s really at the core of our offering as well as the amazing cricket on show. The party in the stands is something else,” he noted

  In terms of CPL long term objective, it has a 50 year agreement with its partner, the West Indies Cricket Board. It is really about attracting the best talent possible and a global audience which is being grown. “Last year we had a reach of 220 million around watching CPL which means we are putting the Caribbean in the shop window. We are showcasing two of the most important things about the Caribbean – the cricket and the carnival.” The Tourist Boards are using that to promote the region so that’s absolutely at the core. A recent team of visiting media practitioners from Canada, the United States of America, Jamaica, Guadeloupe and Jamaica were invited to view the opening match at Warner Park between Jamaica Tallawahs and St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots.  “If people keep turning up and people keep watching it (games) on tv, it’ll grow and grow. We see it as becoming a major sports tourism aspect for the Caribbean,” the Marketing Director emphasized.

   CPL is helping to change attitudes towards cricket and make it more visible among young Caribbeanites, according to Wynne. ”Basically the West Indies guys are able to make a decent living in their backyards  playing CPL and they are becoming local heroes like the ones that went before them like Sir Viv, Desmond Haynes and all those guys. And it’s about for the hearts and minds. There are lots of American sports gaining in popularity in the region but cricket is coming back in a big, big way.

T&T Cricketers at Marriot in St. Kitts

  “One of the big strategic moves we made this year from a marketing perspective was to bring CPL into schools. Our launch was actually in a school hall in Barbados. There were 300 kids going absolutely mental over the players and getting to meet the players, local players like Jayson Holder, still only a young man but at the top of his game. All these kids aspire to be like Jayson one day, that’s got to be good news for cricket in the region.”

   Kerry Packer played a role when he came on the scene and paid cricketers real for their service. Wynn admitted that Packer played a serious role in bringing professional cricket to the next level and CPL has taken that spirit on. “A lot of the West Indies greats who benefitted from that move are still involved with CPL. Sir Vivian Richards, Desmond Haynes, Curtly Ambrose, all those legends are involved either in a mentorship role, management or advisor role on some level. “We are a modern T-20 Tournament but we are very much aware of where we came from, where it all started and having that link is massively important