ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – West Indies Cricket (CWI) chief executive Johnny Grave says the successful staging of the Super50 Cup will have positive repercussions for the West Indies team, especially taking place just before the one-day three-match series against Sri Lanka next month.
The Super50, which kicked off here on Feb. 7 and ends next Saturday, is the first domestic regional tournament to be staged by CWI since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic in the Caribbean last fall.
“The Super50 Cup is a very important tournament for us. It will lead nicely into the one-day International series against Sri Lanka which is clearly part of the World Cup qualifying matches for 2023, ”explained Grave.
“So it is very important to the players that they have been given this opportunity to play some cricket for the selectors to see up close and personal.
“Hopefully we can take those games as preparation into the ODI series because it’s very important on the back of losing all three in Bangladesh that we can bounce back and lift that Super League table , so that we do not have to go through the qualification for the next World Cup. ”
The first-class championship was the last tournament to be staged by CWI and was aborted last March with two rounds remaining, due to the threat of the coronavirus.
And although the Caribbean Premier League went ahead in August and September in Trinidad, the Super50 Cup stayed off the table.
This year, the tournament has attracted a host of senior West Indies players with people like Test captain Jason Holder, white ball diver Kieron Pollard, along with Shai Hope, Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer all available for their respective franchises.
And Grave said their presence of these elite players gave the tournament an extra dimension, and strengthened the cricket culture as well.
“We always said we want to create a strong and vibrant domestic game and that means having established, experienced players available and wanting to play, either for their regional or West Indies team as well having that crop of young people coming through that pressure. for places, ”noted the Englishman.
“And I think the Super50 embodies that and it’s great to see all these teams and some of the biggest and biggest names in West Indies cricket wanting to win games, and that’s exactly the environment and ‘ the culture we wanted to re-establish in the West Indies. cricket. ”
The Super50 Cup is played mainly at Coolidge Cricket Ground, with 13 games including the semi-final and final carded for the venue, with the remaining matches being staged at the Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium in North Sound.
Formerly at Stanford Cricket Ground, CWI recently acquired the facility as part of its development strategy, and Grave said plans are in the pipeline for full commercialization.
“We are not just trying to establish it as a world-class cricket venue but also to have commercial activities that would help fund and maintain those facilities,” said Grave.
“We have completed the acquisition of this magnificent facility – 16 acres adjacent to the airport with already world-class facilities as we see it.
“We want to take those to the next level and have ambitious plans to invest millions of dollars and create a world-class cricket facility for our top players and stars of the future.”