Gayle, Pollard among marquee players of CPL

Bridgetown (Barbados), April 26 (IANS/CMC)

Seeded Caribbean players are being assigned to various franchises as preparations continue ahead of the July start of the inaugural Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo will be the seeded player based in Port-of-Spain while his Trinidadian colleagues Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine go to Barbados and Guyana, respectively, the Trinidad Guardian has reported.

Chris Gayle, who created a number of world records in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Tuesday, will stay in his native Jamaica with the Kingston franchise.

Gayle’s fellow Jamaican Marlon Samuels will be based in the St John’s franchise in Antigua while Darren Sammy remains at home and will play for the St Lucian franchise.

According to the Guardian report, organisers have spread the six players around the six teams in order to bring a level of competitiveness to each franchise.

Australians Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting, Pakistan’s Mohammed Hafeez and New Zealand’s Ross Taylor have already been contracted to the CPL but no official announcement has been made about the franchise they will be assigned to.

However, the T&T Guardian has reported that Ponting has indicated to the organisers his interest in playing for the Trinidad franchise.

It’s been reported as well that Hafeez is expected to go to Guyana while South African Hershelle Gibbs is said to be in talks with the organisers to be stationed in Barbados once his contract details are sorted out.

The inaugural CPL, from July 29 to Aug 26, has replaced the regional T20 tournament and is targeting a substantial regional and global television audience.