Vincy Premier League T10 To Become First Cricket Tournament To Be Played Amid COVID-19 Crisis In A Full-Member Region

The Vincy Premier League (VPL) T10 tournament in the Caribbean is set to become the first tournament to be played amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Vincy Premier League is a 6-team 10-overs-a-side cricket tournament which will be played in the eastern Caribbean island country of St Vincent and Grenadines from May 22-31.

Seventy-two players will participate in the Vincy Premier League with 30 matches to be played at the Arnos Vale Sporting Complex in St Vincent. Three games will be held in a day, and all of them will be streamed live. All six franchises have a marquee player each with West Indies cricketers Kesrick Williams, Sunil Ambris and Obed McCoy headlining the list.

With the global cricketing action coming to a standstill due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Vincy Premier League will be historic as it will mark the return of cricket.

Vincy Premier League T10 Set To Become The First Cricket Tournament To Be Played Amid COVID-19 Crisis

“It is an exciting time for cricket in SVG, I can feel the buzz of sports enthusiasts who are thirsty for some cricket and sports. We came up with this T10 franchise format (Vincy Premier League) because of the absence of sports content at this point, and thought that this brand of cricket would be enticing to cricket fans across the globe in a short duration. The competition will be over a 10-day period, and all 30 matches will be streamed live,” said Dr Kishore Shallow, vice-president at Cricket West Indies (CWI).

“No player would be allowed to use any saliva on the ball,” he said. “Of course, we will be having different dedicated, assigned spaces around the players’ pavilion for teams so that they are not necessarily crowded together. All teams would have their own space where they could practise physical distancing,” Dr Shallow added.

Major Cricketing Events Come To A Hold After Coronavirus Outbreak

The sporting spectrum has also faced a lot due to the outbreak of the pandemic. So far, major cricketing action all across the globe has come to a standstill. India has also suffered a massive loss due to the rapid spread of the deadly virus, and the entire country has come to a grinding halt. India was in a 21-day national lockdown from March 25, and now the nation-wide lockdown has been extended until May 17.

Recently, the IPL 2020 was suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus outbreak. To the disappointment of the cricket fans, the India-South Africa ODI series has also been called off. Apart from it, the Road Safety World Series has also been suspended.

The English board had decided to postpone the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka due to the coronavirus pandemic. The series was to be a part of the World Test Championship (WTC). All the English players playing in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) were called back immediately, and the tournament has been postponed.

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