Match: Barbados Tridents v Guyana Amazon Warriors
Date: Saturday 20 June
Time: 6pm local
Venue: Kensington Oval, Barbados
Date: Saturday 20 June
Time: 6pm local
Venue: Kensington Oval, Barbados
“If you love cricket then this is the kind of brand of cricket that you want to go out and support and go and watch. There’s a good standard of player that are going to go out to the Caribbean so why not come out, enjoy and party with us and have some fun.”
The words of Kevin Pietersen, as the 2015 Hero Caribbean Premier League gets ready to explode into life this weekend in Barbados and St Lucia.
Fun is the recurring theme of the tournament, dubbed ‘The Biggest Party in Sport’, with an array of Twenty20 superstars, such as Pietersen, Shahid Afridi and Jacques Kallis joining home-grown heroes like Chris 'World Boss' Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Smith, Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo in the 33-game extravaganza.
"Barbados supporters are passionate about their T20 cricket" - Tridents captain Kieron Pollard
Into its third season the competition global standing can no longer be questioned, with Bollywood legend Shah Rukh Khan joining Hollywood actors Mark Wahlberg and Gerard Butler as franchise stakeholders while the action will be beamed into over 200 million homes worldwide.
It comes as no surprise, then, that the players are excited to get the action underway, with defending champions Barbados Tridents opening the tournament at the Kensington Oval on Saturday against 2014 runners-up the Guyana Amazon Warriors.
“If there’s one thing about Barbados supporters they are passionate about their cricket, especially their T20 cricket. They are going to come out and expect us to do well,” said Tridents captain Kieron Pollard.
“There’s always a party in the Caribbean, especially on a Saturday night. It’s about playing hard on the cricket field and whatever happens after the game happens.”
"It still hurts for some of the guys what happened last year in the final" - Warriors coach Carl Hooper
The Tridents will enter competition with a familiar feel, having retained the core of their 2014 championship winning team and with four home games in the first week of the competition, hopes are high that the team can get on a roll early on.
“For us it’s just about laying that foundation early and what we expect from the guys. From there it’s pretty simple, if we do our basics well we have a chance of winning. If we don’t we know what will happen,” added Pollard.
For many the tournament begins in perfect fashion with a rematch of last season’s final with the Tridents hosting the Guyana Amazon Warriors, twice CPL runners-up.
In a rain affected game it was Pollard’s side who prevailed by eight runs, under the Duckworth-Lewis method, but the result left a bittersweet taste in the mouth of some Amazon Warriors faithful, helping to add extra layer of intrigue for the first game.
“It’s going to be a big game. An exciting game for us. It’s very important to try and get one over them,” a bullish Carl Hooper, who coaches the Amazon Warriors, told cplt20.com.
"Lendl Simmons won the IPL and has been in fantastic form since the World Cup" - Warriors captain Denesh Ramdin
“We can’t rehash old events but it still hurts for some of the guys what happened last year in the final so we’ve got a lot to play for. Most of all we want to start well because Barbados will be one of the key teams in the tournament.”
The Amazon Warriors are expected to field a hugely experienced side, which could contain both Brad Hodge and Shiv Chanderpaul, while also leaning on the explosive abilities of Lendl Simmons and the guile of Sunil Narine as they mount their bid for a first CPL title.
“Lendl won the IPL and has been in fantastic form since the World Cup. Sunil has had his ups and downs but he is going to be a good asset to have. Everyone in the crowd wants to see him doing well and taking wickets,” added captain Denesh Ramdin.
From Bridgetown on Saturday, the party rolls on to St Lucia - with the Zouks hosting the Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel - before pre-tournament favourites Jamaica Tallawahs enter the fray on Tuesday June 23 and new franchise the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots make their debut the following day.
What’s for sure though is wherever the island, whatever the weather, the party atmosphere is sure to be bouncing.
