BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Local Organizing Committee for the Caribbean Premier League and the St. Kitts-Nevis Patriots have stated that fun and entertain would be the name of the game in the build-up to the Federation’s leg of the cricket tournament.
The league bowls off in June and St. Kitts and Nevis will be play host to four matches in the tournament, all being home games for the Patriots.
At a press conference yesterday (Apr. 13) held at Yu Lounge, Events Manager Val Henry disclosed that the first game would be played on June 30 with the Patriots going up against the Guyana Amazon Warriors.
“This year, again, I think we are expecting a very exciting period of entertainment which is really what CPL is all about...sport and entertainment.”
This year, like 2015, the public will be afforded the opportunity to meet and interact with the international stars who are part of the Patriots’ line-up.
While not giving much insight into their marketing campaign, Henry explained that the Organizing Committee is looking to go beyond just having fans meet the teams.
He said that they want to see a lot of involvement in the CPL matches and the “pre-event activities”, and that fans in St. Kptts and Nevis would be given the opportunity to compete against the franchise players in a promotional event to be held shortly before the tournament gets underway.
“One of the events that I want to tease and throw out there or given serious consideration to, is a one-day fair that is really going to involve a cricket competition. It is going to be a cricket competition that is going to have the participation of our SKN Patriots team, and it's going to be a two-member team.”
One of the members of that two-person team would be a female, Henry noted.
A number of international stars including several members of the World Cup winning team are expected in the Federation on June 22 to represent the Federation's franchise.
The likes of Trinidadians Samuel Badree, Lendl Simmons and Evin Lewis will be joined by South Africa’s T20 captain Faf Du Plessis, Sri Lankan Thisara Perera and hard-hitting Australian batsman and spinner Brad Hodge.
Additionally, the franchise will this year have more merchandise available to the public ahead of the tournament, including replica jerseys.
