ESPN To Cover WICB Domestic T20 Tournament

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and ESPN has announced the details for the inaugural Caribbean T20 Tournament which will be played from 22nd to 31st July and televised live and exclusively on ESPN in the UK. The tournament, which will form part of the annual WICB calendar, will have the first round played in Barbados (22nd to 25th July) with the latter stages held in Trinidad (28th to 31st July). 

The agreement also includes coverage of the event on other ESPN networks and platforms around the world, including television coverage on networks in the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, sub-Saharan Africa, Israel, the Middle East, and broadband coverage in the U.S. (ESPN3.com), Latin America (ESPN360) and Australia (ESPN360).

Eight teams will be involved in the Caribbean T20. The West Indies territorial teams: Barbados, Combined Campuses and Colleges, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago and Windward Islands will be joined by an international team. The winner of the Caribbean T20 will move a step closer to representing the West Indies at the Airtel Champions League in South Africa in September.

Dr Ernest Hilaire, Chief Executive Officer of the WICB said: “This is a very exciting time for cricket in the West Indies. We just staged the hugely successful ICC World T20 Tournament and now we have the inaugural Caribbean T20 Tournament. We expect to see superb action on the field, from the region’s best players, and great excitement off the field, from the lovely Caribbean people in the stands. Cricket fans all across the world have fallen in love with the short version of the game and we know they will be thrilled with what they see during the Caribbean T20.”

Jeroen Oerlemans, Vice-President TV Channels, ESPN EMEA, said: “We continue to expand our cricket offering in the UK and we’re delighted to add the West Indies Cricket Board Caribbean T20 cricket tournament to our summer schedule."
 
The format for the Caribbean T20 Tournament will be two groups of four teams. There will be a round robin stage in each group – each team will play six matches – with the top two teams in each group qualifying for the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals will advance to final while the losing semi-finalists will play a third-place play-off. The eight matches in Barbados will be played on 22nd to 25th July and the eight matches in Trinidad will be played on 28th to 31st July, with 1st August as the reserve day for the finals.

Matches will be played at 9:00pm and 1:00am; except on Sunday 25th July when the start times will be 7:00pm and 11:00pm.

TV Schedule – Fixtures to be confirmed

Thursday 22nd July – 9:00pm to 12:00am & 1:00am to 4:00am
Friday 23rd July – 9:00pm to 12:00am & 1:00am to 4:00am
Saturday 24th July – 9:00pm to 12:00am & 1:00am to 4:00am
Sunday 25th July – 7:00pm to 10:00pm & 11:00pm to 2:00am
Wednesday 28th July – 9:00pm to 12:00am & 1:00am to 4:00am
Thursday 29th July – 9:00pm to 12:00am & 1:00am to 4:00am
Friday 30th July – 9:00pm to 12:00am & 1:00am to 4:00am
Saturday 31st July – 9:00pm to 12:00am & 1:00am to 4:00am