Vincy T10 Premier League kicks off amid coronavirus pandemic
The inaugural season of Vincy Premier T10 League (VPL) commenced on May 22 at the Arnos Vale Sporting Complex, near Kingstown. The tournament that features six teams will be played for a week in the main city on St Vincent. This becomes the first tournament to be held in a Test-playing nation in the wake of coronavirus outburst. Here is more.
As per the ICC guidelines, the players will be barred from applying saliva to shine the ball. Notably, a bunch of hand sanitizers shall be present on the boundary ropes for players. The tournament will also see perpetual temperature checks in order to safeguard the health of players. Additionally, the umpires are required to wear face masks during the match.
Grenadines Divers, Dark View Explorers, Fort Charlotte Strikers, Botanic Gardens Rangers, Salt Pond Breakers and La Soufriere Hikers are the six teams to take part. Three matches will be played everyday with semi-finals and final scheduled on May 30 and 31 respectively. The matches will begin on 6 PM, 8 PM and 10 PM, while Star Sports and Sony ESPN will broadcast them live.
Salt Pond Breakers won the opening clash against Grenadine Divers by three wickets. Beakers' skipper Sunil Ambris, who is also an opener for West Indies cricket team, claimed two scalps. He led Beakers to victory in the second game as well with a 29-run knock, against Fort Charlotte Strikers. Kesrick Williams and Obed McCoy are the other marquee players to play the tournament.
"The Cricket Association would have preferred an option of a limited number of spectators, but the experts expressed some initial concerns and advised that we attempt to regularise the management of players before we consider having spectators," SVGCA president Kishore Shallow said.
The International Cricket Council (ICC), on Friday, issued comprehensive guidelines for resumption of cricket at all levels (community, domestic and international). The guidelines comprised of a number of recommendations, including restriction on saliva usage. Furthermore, separate training regime has been set for bowlers. Earlier this week, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) gave a go-ahead to 18 bowlers for commencing training at individual level.
