Caribbean Premier League

History

Twenty20 domestic cricket first appeared in an organised manner in the West Indies in 2006 with the privately organised Stanford 20/20. The second and last edition of the Stanford competition was officially made part of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) calendar in 2008, after which the tournament ended when its sponsor Allen Stanford was charged with fraud and arrested in June 2009. The next organised Twenty20 competition came about with the creation of the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament by the WICB. The Caribbean Twenty20 was created to fill the gap left by the end of the Stanford 20/20 and to coincide with the 2010 Champions League Twenty20 tournament, which started less than two months after. The top domestic team from the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament qualified for the Champions League as the sole representative of the West Indies.

The WICB first announced the plans for the Caribbean Premier League in September 2012 when it was revealed that the board was "in the advanced stages of discussions to have a commercial Twenty20 league in the region" with an unnamed investor and hoped to conclude a deal before 30 September. On 14 September, the board met to make decisions on the structure and organisation of the Caribbean Twenty20 CPL Schedule in January; to discuss the governance structure of the board and also discuss the planned commercial Twenty20 league and to finalise its structure. The Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) and the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) were also to be brought in to discuss issues pertaining to players in relation to the planned T20 league. On 13 December 2012, the WICB announced that they had finalised an agreement with Ajmal Khan founder of Verus International, a Barbados-based merchant bank, for the funding of the new franchise-based Twenty20 league to be launched in 2013. It was then expected that the new Caribbean Premier League was likely to comprise six Caribbean city-based franchises as opposed to the current territorial set-up with the majority of the players are to come from the West Indies. As part of the agreement, the WICB will receive additional funding from Verus International for additional retainer contracts for players in addition to the 20 annual retainer contracts the board currently funds.

Dates for the tournament were confirmed for the 2013 Caribbean Premier League as 29 July to 26 August. The 2014 and 2015 tournaments took place between 5 July to 10 August and 21 June to 26 July respectively and the 2016 tournament took place between 29 June to 7 August.

Format

CPL

The CPL T20 tournament is played between six teams and is divided into a group stage and a playoff stage. In the group stage, the teams each play ten matches overall, including five home matches. But unlike other prominent T20 leagues which follow a proper home and away format stretching throughout the season, the CPL has an unusual format as the teams play all their home games consecutively within a week. The matches are played at 2 venues at once where the respective home teams play 5 matches each while the other teams play 2 matches, then the whole tournament moves to two other locations, and so on. Six stadiums are used (see Venues below), each a home field for one of the teams. The playoff stage includes an eliminator, two qualifiers and a final to determine the winner of the tournament. All playoff games are played at a single venue.

The 6ixty

The 6ixty is a T10 league organized by Cricket West Indies and the Caribbean Premier League that is scheduled to be played four times a year, starting with a five-day men's and women's tournament in August 2022. A number of significant changes are made to the usual rules of T10 cricket:

• Teams are all out (i.e. they can't bat anymore) upon losing 6 wickets, rather than 10.
• The first 5 overs of each innings will all be bowled from one end of the pitch, with the other 5 overs bowled from the other end.
• Fielding teams must bowl the 10 overs of an innings within 45 minutes, or they lose a fielder during the final over.
• The batting team can 'unlock' a third powerplay over by hitting two sixes in the initial two powerplay overs.

Teams

The tournament includes six franchises with fifteen contracted players each, including a maximum of five international players and four players under the age of 23. Each team has one local and one international franchise player.

Defunct Teams

Seasons

Six teams that have played in the Caribbean Premier League since its inception. Trinbago Knight Riders are the most successful team in the history of Caribbean Premier League, with 5 titles. They are followed by Jamaica Tallawahs with 3 titles and Barbados Tridents with 2 titles. The current champions are the Trinbago Knight Riders who defeated Guyana Amazon Warriors in 2025 to win their 5th CPL title.

Number of titles

† Team now defunct

Teams' performances

Sponsorships

Caribbean mobile network Digicel was named as the first global sponsor for the inaugural 2013 tournament and beyond in a multi-year deal. As previous sponsors of the West Indies cricket team and the Digicel Caribbean Cup the brand has considerable experience with sponsoring cricket and other sporting events throughout the Caribbean. "The CPL is a perfect fit for Digicel. We’re huge fans of West Indies cricket and this is a great opportunity for us to invest not only in what will be an amazing event, but also in the young cricketers who will benefit from around the region," stated Digicel Group Marketing Operations Director Kieran Foley.

Following the acquisition of the Guyana Amazon Warriors franchise owner, Dr. Ranjisingh 'Bobby' Ramroop's New GPC Inc, specifically its Limacol brand, has assumed the title sponsorship of the CPL.

In June 2013 Courts announced their sponsorship of the Caribbean Premier League "CPL's partnership with Courts is a very strategic and beneficial one to both parties, and we are thrilled about the possibilities that exist for us from a marketing perspective," said CPL CEO Damien O' Donohoe. "Combining our advertising and marketing programmes with that of Courts will heighten the awareness of CPL across the region, and increase fan support, which will put people in the stands at matches and customers in the aisles of Courts."

El Dorado Rum has been named as an official partner of the inaugural tournament, and sponsors the tournament's Catch of the Match award, which goes to one player in each game who makes a thrilling catch.

• In 2013 and 2014 season, Limacol was the title sponsor.
• Hero was title sponsor from 2015 to 2022.
• Republic Bank became the title sponsor in 2023 season.

References

References

1. (29 March 2023). "REPUBLIC BANK ANNOUNCED AS TITLE SPONSOR OF CPL T20". Caribbean Premier League.
2. (25 August 2013). "Jamaica lift inaugural CPL title". Wisden India.
3. (10 June 2010). "WICB unveils domestic T20 tournament". [[ESPNcricinfo]].
4. (8 September 2012). "WICB working on launching 'commercial T20 league' – Hilaire". [[ESPNcricinfo]].
5. "Caribbean Premier League CPL T20 Schedule, Squads, Fixtures | | CPL T20 Live Streaming, Schedule, Squad, Fixtures, Standing".
6. "Meet West Indies cricket's new wealthy benefactor".
7. Wattley, Garth. (3 March 2013). "Meet West Indies cricket's new wealthy benefactor". [[ESPNcricinfo]].
8. (13 December 2012). "WICB announce franchise-based T20 league". [[ESPNcricinfo]].
9. "Latest News | cplt20".
10. (13 February 2013). "Caribbean Premier League to contract 90 players". [[ESPNcricinfo]].
11. "CPL to launch inaugural T10 tournament 'The 6ixty' in August".
12. (4 April 2013). "Taylor signs for Caribbean Premier League". ESPNcricinfo.
13. (13 February 2013). "Caribbean Premier League to contract 90 players". ESPNcricinfo.
14. "Jason Holder-led Barbados Tridents to win second CPL title".
15. "Jamaica beat Guyana to win their second CPL title".
16. "CPL winner list".
17. "Guyana gets CPL finals as T&T loses out - Trinidad Guardian".
18. "Latest News | cplt20".
19. "Digicel Cricket / News / Digicel Announced as Major Sponsor for Caribbean Premier League".
20. "Latest News | cplt20".
21. "Latest News | cplt20".
22. (25 June 2013). "CPL signs Title sponsorship agreement". Caribbean Premier League.
23. (10 June 2015). "HERO MOTORCORP NAMED NEW TITLE SPONSOR OF CPL". Caribbean Premier League.
24. (28 August 2019). "HERO MOTOCORP EXTENDS TITLE SPONSORSHIP OF CARIBBEAN PREMIER LEAGUE FOR THREE YEARS". Caribbean Premier Leagueb.