Emmanuel Expresses Optimism About New Caribbean T20 League

Former Windward Islands first-class cricketer, Craig Emmanuel, now lead selector for the sub-regional team, is cautiously optimistic about the new regional T20 competition set to launch in 2025. The decision by Cricket West Indies (CWI) to launch a new domestic T20 tournament for the first time since 2013 was announced earlier this week by Director of Cricket, Miles Bascombe. The league, geared towards emerging players, will be played in the second quarter of 2025, backed by the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL). “We are targeting April to May 2025,” Bascombe said. While he said that preparations for the league would go into “high gear”, Emmanuel is pumping the brakes. Although he agrees that the league is “a very good idea,” he is adamant that coaching structures must be put in place to allow young West Indians to thrive in that format and beyond. “My thing is our cricket has not been based very strongly on proper fundamental and basic skills, technical skills,” noted Emmanuel. “I am thinking the plethora of white-ball cricket that is being played nowadays, it is a bit of a 50-50 for me.  “Yes, it ties very well into the very fluent and volatile way that...