It’s been a long time since we’ve had live professional cricket on our screens or available via live streams as the Coronavirus has robbed us of that, among many other things. How long exactly? Let’s just say too long.
So, thank goodness for the Vincy Premier League, a T10 League taking place in the Caribbean which starts on Friday May 22. The good news is that here at 10CRIC we have all the matches available both in pre-match and live betting.
Where, when and why?
The island of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean will play host to the Vincy Premier League (VPL) with all matches taking place at the Arnos Vale Sporting Complex in St Vincent.
Unlike many other sporting events going on at the moment, this will not be played behind closed doors. Coronavirus hasn’t been a big problem in that part of the world, with just 18 people testing positive, of which 10 have already recovered. That’s part of the reason why the tournament is taking place there and not somewhere else and also why there are currently no restrictions on fans being at the ground.
Just don’t expect too many. There will be three games a day and they will be played between 8.30 am and 2.00 pm so not ideal for people with regular jobs! The tournament lasts nine days, ending on May 31.
This is a totally new tournament and is a joint effort between the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association (SVGA) and Indian company Dream 11, who specialise in offering Fantasy Sports across cricket, hockey, football, kabaddi and basketball. It was Dream 11 who saw the island as a good place to host the tournament, conceived the concept and worked together with the SVGA to make it happen.
Format and teams
Three games a day in the Group Stages will see each of the six teams play everyone else on three occasions. The Top 4 then progress to the semi-finals and the winner of those go on to compete for the title in a one-off final. As stated already, this is a T10 League so we’re talking 10 overs/60 legal deliveries per innings, with matches expected to be completed within two hours.
The names of the teams won’t mean to anyone because they’re all brand new but here they are for the record: the Grenadines Divers, Salt Pond Breakers, La Soufriere Hikers, Botanic Gardens Rangers, Dark View Explorers and Fort Charlotte Strikers.
Players
There are no non-Caribbean players in action and don’t expect to tune in and see the likes of Andre Russell, Kieron Pollard or Dwayne Bravo, the big stars of the current West Indies T20 and ODI sides.
But there are three current West Indies internationals taking part. Obed McCoy (Divers), Kesrick Williams (Rangers) and Sunil Ambris (Breakers) will all be there and are what are called ‘marquee’ players.
Williams is an excellent limited-overs bowler who averages almost two wickets a game and Ambris has been in action recently for the Windies in white ball cricket and has a reputation as an explosive opener.
Other names to look out for are Lindon James and Codey Horne. As you’d expect from West Indies batters playing T10, they’re monster hitters rather than subtle nudgers. Both had a strike rate of over 165 in the CPL last year.
10CRIC has all the games when it comes to cricket
It may be a totally new tournament with a few somewhat unknown players but that isn’t going to stop us here at 10CRIC from offering all the matches both in pre-match and in live betting so you can look forward to finding all your favourite betting markets nearer the time.
We kick off proceedings on Friday with the Grenadine Divers v Salt Pond Breakers, followed by La Soufriere Hikers v Botanic Garden Rangers and the last match of the day is the Dark View Explorers v Fort Charlotte Strikers.
We’ll look forward to bigger tournaments with bigger named players in the near future but it’s just nice to have cricket back at all.
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