CPL not affected by new ICC set-up
Published: T&T Guardian
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Vinode Mamchan
The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2014 series will not be affected by the new proposals put forward for the governance of world cricket. One of the major issues regarding the new proposals is the abandonment of the Future Tours Programme (FTP) and reverting to bi-lateral series. The organisers of the CPL would have looked at the FTP and brought the tournament forward by two weeks. This has allowed a number of top international stars to come to the CPL because their respective countries would have been idle at the time of the July 5 to August 10 period.
However, director of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Baldath Mahabir said this year’s tournament will not be affected because the FTP will still be in effect. “The new proposals have to be ratified by the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. Coming out of the last meeting where it was reported that the ‘new principles’ put forward by the working committee, was unanimously supported, the ICC members are expected to meet in June to ratify the decision. Until then the FTP holds, so the tours which were previously arranged would come off as planned.”
The CPL takes place the month after, so the time for countries to organise bi-lateral tours would be too short. This means that the cricket season in the West Indies will not be affected this year.
New Zealand and Bangladesh are due here under the FTP, after the England limited overs and T20 tour of the Caribbean which will begin at the end of this month. When new proposals are ratified, the WICB will then work in securing bi-lateral series against the different countries. The president of the WICB, Dave
Cameron mentioned at a press conference on Monday in Trinidad, that a number of top nations have already given the WICB their word that they will be willing to play the regional side. The WICB is looking to these type of arrangements with top nations to make money and cut their deficit
