Caribbean Premier League is on the rise – Russell, Moody

Jul 06, 2016 Sports

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By Zaheer Mohamed
With the Guyana leg of the Caribbean Premier League set to bowl off tomorrow with the Amazon Warriors facing Jamaica Tallawahs from 19:00hrs, Chief Operations Officer Pete Russell and International Players Director Tom Moody feel the tournament is on the rise.
Speaking with the media yesterday at the National Stadium, Providence, Russell said he is pleased to be back and is looking forward to some exciting matches. “We have had some fantastic games with record scores so far and the fact that Guyana has won its first two games is hugely exciting for everyone here and the level of cricket is second to none so we are way up from where we were last year,” he added.
Russell pointed out that the teams seem to be evenly matched and they expect a continuation of the massive crowds as we always get in Guyana. Russell feels that the tournament has grown from strength to strength and has a long way to go. “CPL have improved standards and we had recently retired players involved but now we have got the best in the world and the West Indian players have taken advantage to having quality payers among them; the transition of the local talent has been remarkable.”
He explained that the competition has a huge economic impact and its helps the local economy to grow. ‘Sports tourism has a huge impact around the world and we have a massive part to play here’… adding that they are not looking for subsidy from Governments but to partner with everyone for investments.
“It’s an expensive tournament to run, we have pumped US$22M into the tournament so we have to make it work commercially and with the growth of the tournament it makes the commercial a lot easier.” With regards to the games being held in Florida, Russell stated that the games there are exciting for the CPL and they have gone through the sanctioning process with the ICC which has been approved, and the ticket sales is fantastic.
Russell explained that there was a bidding process for the finals. “We at the start of each tournament we have put out a bid process, it is not about us going to any one country and say you got to host the finals but everyone had a chance to bid, Guyana sadly didn’t, for us being the 50th anniversary was the perfect time to be hosting. There were proactive conservations in Trinidad, but it didn’t get to a positive conclusion; both parties probably felt it wasn’t the right time to be hosting the finals and St. Kitts have been great partners, we are key to build long term partners with everyone. We felt it is the right decision and it is about taking these games around the region,” he posited.
Well in regards of the timing of the matches, he informed that it is a difficult decision since they have a huge international following. “We have one hundred million around the world watching these games, it is very important not to alienate the local fan, it is always a juggling so we have to make sure we get the right times in.”
Moody believes that it is hard to pick a winner at this point since the teams are evenly matched. “We are obviously thrilled that we have managed to attract some world class players. It not only shines a light on the Caribbean, but on the game globally and it shows that the CPL is a significant tournament. I have had a lot of interaction with some of the players and it is really exciting to be involved in this competition which is great advertisement for the Caribbean, not only at the level of the tournament but what the spill off is in communities and schools with the game being highlighted,” he said.
With recent success of West Indies cricket in the U19, women’s and men’s world cups, Moody felt that things are going quiet quickly with the resurgence of the game in the Caribbean. “That’s a real focus for us, to make sure that we (CPL) continue to help the WICB develop the game here. And the more star players we can get mingling with the local players the quicker the game is going to grow,” he related.
Moody stated that it is a challenge for the International Cricket Council to fit in the entire cricket in demand around the world in 12 months. “It is important as a league to have a time in the year where we can access all the cricket nations. We have an ongoing vision to have every nation involved in CPL, it just adds to the quality. However the issue ICC face is they have nine months left to play in the year to play test cricket which is the pinnacle of the game. We can’t ignore the growth of the game in T20 so there needs to be a compromise somewhere. The public have made it very clear that this is the format they want to watch,” explained Moody.
He noted that they want to be part of the development of West Indies cricket.

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