By Neto Baptiste
The newly created Caribbean Premier League (CPL) franchise, the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons, will focus heavily on developing the next generation of cricketers here at its home base.
This is according to CEO Jeff Miller, who said part of the original agreement with the Antigua and Barbuda government is that the franchise will play a role in nurturing young aspiring players.
“We’re also looking to create an academy in Antigua which would be a pathway to the national team and to the CPL franchise because we don’t want to be in Antigua just doing CPL, we want to have a constant presence.
“We see that the development of where cricket is going in the Caribbean and Antigua plays a vital role as the headquarters for Cricket West Indies, and now the headquarters for the Leeward Islands cricket team, and we see this as another opportunity to have these legends and these knights be involved in the academy and having seminars and going into the schools,” he said.
Miller had previously stated that the Falcons had already acquired the services of spinner Hayden Walsh Jr and fast bowler Kelvin Pitman for the 2024 edition of the CPL. The CEO also noted that a number of former players will also form part of the body’s development efforts.
“That was a key component of our negotiations and that academy we are speaking about will serve that purpose and, as I said earlier, Courtney Walsh and probably some other folks will be spearheading that part of the academy,” the CEO said.
The 2024 CPL season is expected to start on August 17 and finish on September 25.
The Antigua and Barbuda Falcons will host the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots on August 29 before hosting the Guyana Amazon Warriors one day later on August 30, with both matches being played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. Falcons will then host Barbados Royals on September 1 and St Lucia Kings two days later.