BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Caribbean Premier League organisers are aiming to build on last year’s record numbers, when the fourth edition of the Twenty20 tournament bowls off in June.
Chief executive Damien O’Donohoe said while they had seen a near 50 per cent increase in attendance last season, they were hoping to trump this in order to make the upcoming season the best one yet.
“Last year was our most successful campaign to date, where we welcomed over 302 000 fans through the gates, which represented an increase of 44 per cent from the previous season,” O’Donohoe said following the official draft for the 2016 season which took place here Thursday.
“This year we are going to work even harder to build on this strong platform and engage our growing international audience. It is without doubt our most exciting roster of talent, with some of the biggest names signed up for what is the biggest party in sport.
“We look forward to working with each of the stakeholders, not least the West Indies Cricket Board who have been hugely important supporters of the CPL, to deliver our best season yet.”
The draft saw a significant overhaul of most franchises as owners and officials sought to freshen up their squads ahead of the new campaign.
Barbados Tridents, the 2014 champions, picked up South African star AB de Villiers and his countrymen David Wiese and Wayne Parnell, but lost the likes of Dwayne Smith and Rayad Emrit both to Guyana Amazon Warriors.
Minnows St Kitts and Nevis Patriots strengthened significantly with the capture of South African batsman Faf du Plessis and West Indies opener Lendl Simmons, along with Australian Brad Hodge while St Lucia Zouks, who have also struggled in the competition to date, landed hard-hitting batsman David Miller, Australian all-rounder Shane Watson while retaining West Indies Twenty20 skipper Darren Sammy.
O’Donohoe said that with the draft now out of the way, there would be a final push to ensure another successful hosting of the CPL.
“It has been a busy period over the last few weeks for each of the franchise owners. But with the conclusion of the Player Draft … we can now look forward to staging many mouth-watering contests later this summer in the Caribbean, and for the first time in the USA, with some of the best international talent in world cricket on display,” he said.
“There is a strong selection of outstanding international talent, supplemented by the introduction of ‘marquee’ players for each franchise which allies to our biggest roster of local Caribbean players to date, and that remains a cornerstone of the CPL’s strategy to develop West Indies cricket.”
