CPL squads ring in the changes

The 2024 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) gets underway on Thursday, with the hometown Antigua & Barbuda Falcons going up against the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots. Ahead of the highly-anticipated curtain raiser, though, the League announced a number of personnel changes on Wednesday.

Former West Indies A captain Shamarh Brooks will join the Barbados Royals. The 35-year-old Bajan all-rounder, along with Sri Lankan all-rounder Dunith Wellalage, will be stopgap players. David Miller and Keshav Maharaj will miss the first two matches due to Cricket South Africa awards commitments.

Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza has also withdrawn due to injury. The St Kitts & Nevis Patriots are yet to announce a replacement for the all-rounder.

Trinbago Knight Riders have brought in USA’s Andries Gous as a temporary replacement for Australia’s Tim David. Notably, the big-hitter will miss the first four matches.

One of the biggest losses will be South African wicketkeeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen, who has withdrawn from the CPL due to a family emergency.

The Saint Lucia Kings have flown in New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter Tim Seifert as his replacement, but he will have big shoes to fill, despite having won the title with Trinbago Knight Riders in 2020.

Klaasen, known for his aggressive batting, especially against spin bowling, was a prized acquisition for the Kings. Signed in June ahead of the CPL draft, Klaasen’s absence will be strongly felt by the team, which finished third on the points table last season and made it to the Eliminator.

Klaasen was part of the Guyana Amazon Warriors team in 2022, but that was before he came into his own as a limited-overs cricketer. He made 118 runs in five matches at a strike rate of 137.

In the two years since then, he has played 82 T20s for both club and country, scoring a remarkable 2293 runs at a strike rate of 169, including two hundreds and 16 fifties.

(BT)