The Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has confirmed that St Kitts & Nevis will be hosting matches during the 2022 tournament which will run from August 30 to September 30. St Kitts & Nevis will host seven matches between August 30 and September 4 with the home team and current champions, St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, playing in four of those games.
Hero CPL will return to St Kitts & Nevis again in 2022 after the Federation successfully hosted the whole tournament in 2021.
Pete Russell, Hero CPL’s CEO, said: “The 2021 Hero CPL was an enormous success, and we are hugely grateful to the government and people of St Kitts & Nevis who were fabulous hosts. Warner Park is a fantastic venue, and we are very excited to be back there as St Kitts & Nevis Patriots get their championship defence underway in front of a home crowd.”
The Hon. Jonel Powell, Minister of Sport for St Kitts & Nevis, said: “The hosting of the CPL in its entirety in 2021 in St Kitts & Nevis proved a success in every way for our people. Tremendous direct economic gains were made in our economy and to individuals at a difficult time due to the pandemic. Our people were able to receive some much-needed ‘Covid relief’ socially through the amazing matches, and our very own St Kitts & Nevis Patriots won its first CPL title in the most dramatic style.
“This is why we are very pleased to partner with CPL once again as a host venue for their 2022 edition, and to have the opportunity to see our Patriots defend their title right here at historic Warner Park.”
The 2022 season will take place in four countries, St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana with the final set to talk place at Providence on September 30.
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T20 World Cup preview: Can England exorcise ghosts of 2023?
It's fair to say England's last defence of a limited-overs world title did not go to plan.
Eighteen months on from losing their 50-over crown in India, failing to get out of their group as they lost six of nine matches, Jos Buttler's team will hope for far better at the 2024 T20 World Cup.
The champions will face stern competition in the largest-ever edition of the tournament, with 20 teams descending on the West Indies and United States, who get things under way against Canada in Dallas on Saturday.
How will the hosts fare in a tournament many hope will have a lasting impact on stateside cricket? Can India end their 17-year drought in the 20-over format, or will Australia follow in England's footsteps by winning both limited-overs crowns?
Ahead of the opening match, we run through the big storylines and delve into the best Opta stats surrounding the key contenders and players.
The hosts
Many eyebrows were raised when the United States were confirmed as co-hosts for this year's tournament, but a recent 2-1 series win over Bangladesh showed they are not simply there to make up the numbers.
Sixteen of the tournament's 55 matches will be played in the US, with those split between Dallas, Miami and Long Island, New York.
This will be just the second edition of the T20 World Cup to be held in more than one country, after Oman and the United Arab Emirates co-hosted in 2021. No host nation has ever lifted the trophy, and only two hosts have even reached the semi-finals – Sri Lanka in 2012 and India in 2016.
The USA are one of three teams making their T20 World Cup bow, alongside Canada and Uganda. Their hopes of making an impression on home turf may rest upon Monank Patel, whose 441 T20I runs put him second in their all-time charts behind Steven Taylor (742).
While the USA's ambitions may be limited to giving a good account of themselves against India, Pakistan and Ireland in Group A, their co-hosts will be hoping for more.
Champions in 2012 and 2016, West Indies are one of just two teams (alongside England) to win multiple T20 World Cups, while they will also become just the second nation to host on two occasions, having previously done so in 2010.
They have been drawn alongside Afghanistan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Uganda in Group C, and with every match from the Super-8 stage onwards being held in the Caribbean, they will enjoy home advantage all the way.
The last time the Windies served as hosts, no team managed a score of 200 or more runs throughout the entire tournament. That has only occurred at one other T20 World Cup (in 2014), and it looks unlikely to happen again this year, given the likelihood of a few group-stage mismatches.
The champions
No team has ever successfully defended the T20 World Cup trophy, a feat England will attempt to achieve at the site of their first triumph in the format – they beat Australia in the 2010 showpiece at the Kensington Oval.
They face Scotland, Namibia and Oman in Group B, with old rivals Australia also awaiting in a clash likely to determine top spot.
Captain Buttler and head coach Matthew Mott are under pressure to mastermind a far better title defence than their pitiful effort in the 50-over tournament, and they will adopt a big-hitting approach with Phil Salt, Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone joining Buttler in the competition's most fearsome top six.
The question marks are with the ball and much could hinge on the fitness of Jofra Archer, after wet weather limited his opportunities to play his way into form in a home series against Pakistan.
Leg-spinner Adil Rashid has more T20I wickets in the West Indies (21) than any other overseas bowler, and he will have been pleased to see England's four group-stage games pencilled in for the Caribbean.
Sam Curran, meanwhile, was the player of the tournament in 2022 and could make another big impact after enjoying his best IPL campaign to date with Punjab Kings.
The challengers
India
Like England, India are also looking to banish the ghosts of last year's ODI competition, when they suffered final heartache on home soil.
Skipper Rohit Sharma gets another chance at ending their 17-year T20 World Cup drought, with seven other survivors from the 50-over final loss included in his squad.
Rohit, like Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, has participated in all eight previous editions of this tournament, and only Virat Kohli (1,141) has bettered his 963 T20 World Cup runs among active players.
Kohli approaches the tournament in fine shape, having clinched the Orange Cap by top-scoring with 741 runs for Royal Challengers Bangaluru in the 2024 IPL.
The main questions surrounding the batting great, as is the case for India's squad at large, relate to the physical toll taken by a jam-packed IPL schedule.
India's second fixture, which pits them against Pakistan in New York on June 9, is the headline contest of the group stage and will tell us much about their hopes.
Australia
Australia head to the Americas with 11 players who tasted success in 50 overs last year, though Steve Smith and Jake Fraser-McGurk – who enjoyed a terrific IPL campaign with Delhi Capitals – were the two big-name omissions from Mitch Marsh's squad.
This World Cup will be a last dance for David Warner, who has already announced his intention to retire from T20Is – his last international format – after the tournament.
Warner – who was crowned player of the tournament when Australia triumphed in 2021 – has racked up a total of 806 runs at the T20 World Cup, and will hope to surpass 1,000 with a big showing in 2024.
The big-game experience of Warner, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins et al. will be the envy of most other teams at the tournament.
Australia will not be fazed by being put under pressure, either, boasting a 72 per cent win rate when chasing in T20 World Cup matches – the highest of any team in tournament history (25 games – 18 wins, seven losses).
New Zealand
Having reached the semi-finals at the last three editions of the T20 World Cup – losing the 2021 final to Australia – New Zealand appear more likely to challenge the world's top three than an unfamiliar South Africa side, or a Pakistan team plagued by off-pitch issues.
Like Australia, the Black Caps boast an incredible amount of experience, with only four members of Kane Williamson's squad being below the age of 30.
Mark Chapman, 29, is one of them, and he could be their player to watch after smashing 575 runs in T20Is in 2023. For all member nations, only India's Suryakumar Yadav managed more (733).
Their group-stage match against the Windies – set for June 12 in Trinidad and Tobago – is one to circle on the calendar.
The key players
Andre Russell
Russell has built a reputation as one of the world's most fearsome bowlers and comes into his home tournament off the back of a brilliant IPL campaign with championship-winning Kolkata Knight Riders.
He finished the 2024 IPL with 19 wickets (including three in the final against Sunrisers Hyderabad), a tally only bettered by Harshal Patel (24), Jasprit Bumrah and Avesh Khan (20 each) among pacemen.
Russell also did some damage with the bat, scoring 223 runs at a strike rate of 184.3.
Travis Head
Australia superstar Head enters the World Cup in the form of his life, with his 567 runs for Sunrisers Hyderabad making him the fourth-highest run scorer in the 2024 IPL and the highest non-Indian (only Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Riyan Parag managed more).
His batting strike rate of 191.6 was only bettered by Abhishek Sharma (204.2) and Fraser-McGurk (234). With the latter failing to make Australia's squad, Head will carry the burden with the bat.
Jasprit Bumrah
India's squad is packed full of household names, but Bumrah remains the player opposition teams envy most of all. The world's number one paceman has 74 wickets in 61 T20I overs in his career, second only to Yuzvendra Chaha (96) in the India squad.
Virat Kohli
Another of India's icons, Kohli has a batting average of 81.5 from 25 previous innings at the T20 World Cup, the best of any player in the history of the tournament to have at least 10 innings under their belts.
He has scored 50 or more runs in four of his last six innings in the tournament (82*, 62*, 12, 64*, 26 and 50). Ireland – India's first opponents on June 5 – had better beware.
Jos Buttler
While England have plenty of players capable of taking the lead with the bat, skipper Buttler is often the man they turn to in this format.
Since the start of the 2021 tournament, he has scored 29.7 per cent of England's runs in T20 World Cup action, the best rate of any player with at least four innings during that span.
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North American derby set to kick off 2024 ICC T20 World Cup in Dallas
The 2024 ICC T20 World Cup will get underway on Saturday, June 1 with an exciting clash between North American neighbours the USA and Canada at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
This will be the second appearance at a T20 World Cup for the Canadians while this will be the joint-hosts first time appearing at a T20 World Cup.
The teams most recently played a five-match T20I series from April 7-13 in the USA with the hosts coming out 4-0 winners.
The top run-scorer in that series was Jamaican-born Canada batsman Aaron Johnson with 124 runs in four innings at an average of 31 and a strike rate of 144.18.
Aaron Johnson was the top run-scorer when these two teams last met. The next two best batsmen were India-born USA skipper Monank Patel and Steven Taylor, both of the USA, who finished with 120 runs and 115 runs in three innings each.
Overall, Patel has 441 runs in 25 T20Is at an average of 22.05 including a pair of fifties.
Taylor, in 24 T20Is, has 742 runs at an average of 41.22 with a hundred and four fifties. He can also contribute with ball in hand having taken 11 wickets at an economy of 5.32 during his 24 games.
Steven Taylor averages 41.22 for the USA in T20Is. South Africa-born ISA batsman Andries Gous was the only other batsman to score more than 100 runs in the series with 11 runs in three innings.
Gous has appeared in just six T20Is, scoring 161 runs at an average of 26.83 with two fifties.
Another key player for the Americans will be former New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson. Although he didn't light the world on fire when the two teams last met, his ability to hit the ball a long way and send down sone overs of left arm pace could be vital to the American charge.
As far as wickets go, former India Under-19 representative Harmeet Singh finished with six wickets in four games for the hosts while South Africa-born Shadley van Schalkwyk finished with similar returns for the USA.
Former India U-19 spinner Harmeet Singh. Canada’s best bowler in the series was Pakistan-born Saad Bin Zafar with five wickets from four games.
All these players will be crucial to the chances of either team kicking off the World Cup with a win.
The hosts should also come into the game with a world of confidence after producing a 2-1 series victory over Bangladesh from May 21-25 in the USA.
The Canadians won their only warm-up fixture ahead of the showpiece event with a 63-run win over Nepal in Dallas on May 27 while the Americans have had both their scheduled warm-up games abandoned without a ball being bowled.
The World Cup is scheduled to run from June 1-29 in the West Indies and the USA.
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Gajnabi back in Windies Women's squad for Sri Lanka tour
After being snubbed for the previous tour of Pakistan, Guyana's Shabika Gajnabi makes a return to the West Indies Women’s team, as the Selection Panel named a 15-player squad for the eagerly anticipated series against Sri Lanka.
This exciting series, which starts next month, will feature three One Day Internationals (ODIs) and three T20 Internationals (T20Is), with the first match taking place on Saturday, June 15, in Galle.
Gajnabi, who along with her compatriots Ashmini Munisar and Plaffiana Millington were left out of the squad that enjoyed a successful outing in Pakistan, has been refitted in the Shane Deitz-coached team in place of Jannillea Glasgow.
The team is once again led by Captain Hayley Matthews who has been in exceptional form, supported by Vice-Captain Shemaine Campbelle.
Lead Selector Ann Browne-John explained the significance of the tour.
“The ODI series serves as a crucial stepping stone towards automatic qualification for the Women’s Cricket World Cup, providing an essential opportunity for the team to gain more valuable points in the Women’s Championship. The tour also allows the squad, during the T20I series, to continue to prepare for the upcoming T20 World Cup, which takes place in September in Bangladesh," Browne-John said.
"The similar Indian subcontinental conditions will help the team to refine their skills strategies, build synergy, and assess their strengths and areas for improvement against quality opposition. The experience gained here will be invaluable as they progress towards the T20 World Cup, ensuring they are well-prepared and in peak form for the challenges ahead," she added.
The ODI series in Galle from June 15-21 is part of the ICC Women's Championship, with the top five teams and hosts India automatically qualifying for the Cricket World Cup in 2025. The West Indies Women are currently sitting seventh in the table with, Sri Lanka eighth but level on points.
The team departs the Caribbean on Sunday for a seven day training camp in Colombo to prepare and acclimatise ahead of this important tour.
Full squad: Hayley Matthews (Captain), Shemaine Campbelle (Vice-Captain), Aaliyah Alleyne, Shamilia Connell, Afy Fletcher, Cherry Ann Fraser, Shabika Gajnabi, Chinelle Henry, Zaida James, Qiana Joseph, Chedean Nation, Karishma Ramharack, Stafanie Taylor, Rashada Williams, Kate Wilmot
Match schedule
Saturday, June 15- 1st ODI at the Galle International Stadium, Galle
Tuesday, June 18- 2nd ODI at the Galle International Stadium, Galle
Friday, June 21 - 3rd ODI at the Galle International Stadium, Galle
Monday, June 24- 1st T20I at the Mahinda Rajapaksha International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota
Wednesday, June 26 - 2nd T20I at the Mahinda Rajapaksha International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota
Friday, June 28- 3rd T20I at the Mahinda Rajapaksha International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota
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