Caribbean Twenty20

Caribbean Twenty20

Countries	West Indies
Administrator	WICB
Format	Twenty20
First tournament	2010
Last tournament	2012–13
Tournament format	Round-robin and knockout
Number of teams	7
Current champion	Trinidad and Tobago
Most successful	Trinidad and Tobago (3 titles)
Qualification	Champions League Twenty20
Website	ct20.windiescricket.com

The Caribbean Twenty20 was an annual tournament Twenty20 cricket tournament in the West Indies that was held four times from 2010 to 2013. The top performing domestic team qualified for the Champions League Twenty20 tournament. It was replaced by the Caribbean Premier League, whose first season began in July 2013.^[1]

History

The previous domestic Twenty20 tournament held by the West Indies Cricket Board was the Stanford 20/20, which ended in 2008 after its sponsor Allen Stanford was charged with fraud and arrested in June 2009. The creation of the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament coincides with the 2010 Champions League Twenty20 tournament, which started less than two months after. The top domestic team from the tournament qualified for the Champions League as the sole representative of the West Indies.^[2] They will be the tenth and last team to qualify, as all other teams qualified before May 2010.^[3]

Cricket in the West Indies was at a time of decline, indicated by the criticism received when they hosted the 2007 Cricket World Cup and the failure of the Stanford 20/20. With the slogan "Bring It Back", the Caribbean Twenty20 was an attempt to revitalize interest in the sport with a focus on the Twenty20 format, which was popular amongst audiences in the 18–34 age-group. This follows the success of the Trinidad and Tobago national cricket team at the 2009 Champions League Twenty20, where they were runners-up, and the West Indies' successful hosting of the 2010 ICC World Twenty20.^[4]

After the inaugural tournament, the tournament was moved to January 2011. Originally it was intended to run alongside a second Twenty20 competition in January called the Calypso Cup, which would have featured the four semi-finalists from the 2010 Caribbean Twenty20 as well as the two finalists from England's Friends Provident t20 competition and two other overseas teams (including possibly a third team from England). These plans were later cancelled.^[5] It was later announced that the two English county teams Somerset and Hampshire were to participate in the Caribbean Twenty20.^[6]

Replacement

In September 2012, outgoing chief executive of the WICB, Ernest Hilaire, 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 that he hopes to conclude a deal before his term ends on 30 September. He noted that the board will meet on 14 September to make decisions on the structure and organization of the Caribbean Twenty20 in January; to discuss the governance structure of the board and also discuss the planned league and to finalize its structure. The Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) would also be brought in to discuss issues pertaining to players in relation to the planned T20 league.^[7]

On 13 December 2012, the WICB announced that they had finalized an agreement with Ajmal Khan ^[8] founder of Verus International, a Barbados-based merchant bank, for the funding of the new franchise-based Twenty20 league which will be launched in 2013. The new Caribbean Premier League is likely to comprise six Caribbean city-based franchises as opposed to the current territorial set-up and 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.^[9]

Format

While the number of teams varied between editions, the format remained the same with a group stage and a knockout stage. If a match ends in a tie, a Super Over will be played to determine the winner. The group stage has the teams divided into two equal groups, with each playing a single round-robin tournament. The top two teams of each group advances to the advance to the knockout stage. The knockout stage consists of two semi-finals, a third-place playoff and the grand final. The semi-finals has the top team of one group facing the second from the other. The winners of the semi-finals play the grand final to determine the winner of the competition, while the losers of the semi-finals play the third-place playoff.

Prize money

The total prize money for the competition, in 2011, is US$125,000, with the winning team receiving US$62,500.^[10] The most outstanding player in each of the 16 matches will receive $500 and a plaque.

Teams

Domestic teams

Team	Wins	2nds	3rds	4ths
Barbados	0	1	0	1
Combined Campuses and Colleges	0	0	0	0
Guyana	1	1	0	0
Jamaica	0	1	2	1
Leeward Islands	0	0	0	0
Trinidad and Tobago	3	0	1	0
Windward Islands	0	0	1	1

Invited overseas team

Team	Appearances			Wins	2nds	3rds	4ths
	Total	First	Latest
Canada	3	2010	2011–12	0	0	0	0
Somerset	1	2010–11	2010–11	0	0	0	0
Hampshire Royals	1	2010–11	2010–11	0	1	0	0
Sussex Sharks	1[11]	2011–12	2011–12	0	0	0	0
Netherlands	1[11]	2011–12	2011–12	0	0	0	0

Tournament results

Tournament	Final Venue	Final			Matches	Teams
		Winner	Result	Runner-up
2010 Details	Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad	Guyana 135 for 9 (19.5 overs)	won by 1 wicket Scorecard	Barbados 134 for 5 (20 overs)	16	8
2010–11 Details	Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados	Trinidad and Tobago 147 for 7 (20 overs)	won by 36 runs Scorecard	Hampshire Royals 111 for 8 (20 overs)	24	10
2011–12 Details	Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados	Trinidad and Tobago 168 for 6 (20 overs)	won by 63 runs Scorecard	Jamaica 105 for 5 (20 overs)
2012–13 Details	Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia	Trinidad and Tobago 120 for 1 (12.3 overs)	won by 9 wickets Scorecard	Guyana 116 for 6 (20 overs)	23	7

References

1. "Caribbean Premier League to contract 90 players". Cricinfo. ESPN. 13 February 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-13.
2. "WICB unveils domestic T20 tournament". CricInfo. 10 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
3. Gautam Sheth (25 April 2010). "Ross Taylor's loyalty will be tested". DNA. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
4. Veera, Sriram (21 July 2010). "West Indian T20 game gets a reboot". CricInfo. Retrieved 2010-07-22.
5. WICB (3 October 2010). "WICB announcements following Board Meeting". WICB. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
6. McGlashan, Andrew (16 November 2010). "Hampshire and Somerset join Caribbean T20". CricInfo. ESPN. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
7. "WICB working on launching 'commercial T20 league' - Hilaire". CricInfo. 8 September 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
8. http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/623113.html
9. "WICB announce franchise-based T20 league". CricInfo. 13 December 2012. Retrieved 2012-12-14.
10. "Higher prize money in Caribbean T20". cricinfo. 11 January 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
11. "Netherlands, Sussex to play Caribbean T20". CricInfo. ESPN. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 2012-05-13.