Russell says CPL taking ‘West Indies first’ approach to development

By Jemima Holmes

Aside from being the “biggest party in sport”, the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is a large contributor to the development of the game and its players in the Caribbean region. This focal point for the CPL has no expiration date, as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pete Russell verbalised their intentions to ensure that the event continues to afford opportunities to players and coaches from around the Caribbean.

A little over a month ago, Guyana’s Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Antigua and Barbuda’s Curtly Ambrose were added to the coaching staff of the Jamaica Tallawahs as Head Coach and Bowling Coach respectively, in what was considered to be a power move by the franchise.
CEO Russell believes that the appointment of regional legends augurs well for the development of coaches in the Region, while expressing hopes that younger coaches can also join the system.
“I think it’s very important,” Russell stated.
“If you think about West indies cricket when it was at its peak, it was that era, it was the Shivs, the Curtlys, the Courtney Walshes, all of whom have a huge amount of intel and knowledge on the game. So, you always want to try and integrate them when you can.”
He went on to state, “At the same time, you also want to bring through younger coaches, make sure there’s a balance there, because it’s important younger coaches get the exposure. It’s a lonely place to be a coach of a franchise team, because there is pressure. There’s only a short number of games you have to make things work, so, yeah I think it’s balanced.”
“Like anything, you need that mix of experience and youth,” he concluded.
Turning his attention to the CPL’s attempts to foster the growth of young players in the Region, Russell confirmed that the Under-19 Emerging players programme is one that will be a CPL fixture for years to come.
“That’s still very much part of it. Each team will get the option to choose two emerging players, as we like to call them. Cricket West indies gives us a list of who those players should be, so we have a group the teams can pick from,” Russell explained.
The CPL CEO further stated, “And obviously, that’s very important. If you think of some of the players that have come through that structure, we’re very blessed that there is such talent here in the Caribbean. So, that’s an important part of what we do going forward.”
On the other hand, the ICC Americas players’ programme is one that has been cut short, with CPL opting for a ‘West Indies first’ approach.
“Not this year,” Russell said, answering Guyana Times Sports’ question on the state of the programme.
“We’ve gone for the West indies first approach, which I think is the right approach. The ICC programme was good, I think we introduced a lot of associate players to CPL and therefore, high-level cricket,” he confirmed.
He expounded on the reason for the decision, sharing, “If we’re honest, probably one player came through. Ali Khan came through for Trinidad and you had other good performances, but our thought was it’d be better to give that slot to a young West Indian.”
While hosting rights negotiations are currently ongoing, the Hero CPL is expected to be staged late-August, early-September for the 2022 season.