Bridgetown.
A new and exciting era in West Indies cricket began yesterday with the launching of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) joint venture between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and international merchant bank Verus International.
President of the WICB Julian Hunte confirmed that the WICB and the merchant bank had signed a lucrative 20-year contract .
"It is a partnership but we have given a licence to Verus that they own the CPL and we assist wherever we can. The way in which we do business, we expect there will be consulation", Hunte said.
"People such as the West Indies Players Association will be involved but it will be driven by Verus and not the WICB", he added.
Hunte said the milti-million deal with the intenational merchant bank would allow greater professionalism of the game across the region with financial benefits not going only to those players involved in the CPL but allowing for retainer contracts for a larger pool of players.
Chairman and CEO of Verus International Ajmal Khan said his passion for the project was cultivated with his head and heart.
"Living in Barbados since 1997, I have become very fond of this island and this region, the people and the passion and cricket being at the heart of it. I felt over the last year that the time had come to create what I hope will become on of the most enviable franchises in the world", Khan said.
"With that in mind, I am looking to invest whatever it takes, in the hundreds of millions, in order to be able to bring this passion, into a reality that issustainable", he added.
The CPL will be make up of six franchises based in six separate countries. Each franchise will play home and away matches before the knockout stages.
It is schedule to start in 2014 and will replace the intra regional Caribbean Twenty20 competition.
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