The T&T Cricket Board will host the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional Super-50 cricket tournament in this country in January next year.
T&T Guardian understands that the tournament which was played alongside the Regional First Class series last year, will now be clumped separately as played as a 'Super Series' in T&T. A source close to the situation said the West Indies Cricket Board decided to play the series separately because of the fact that they no longer host the regional T20 tournament.
"There was a window for the board to fill in January because the Regional T20 which is now hosted by Virus International takes place in mid-year," said the source.
"The WICB decided to play this 50 overs tournament as a separate series and with the new marketing arm in place, they can now focus on making this tournament a very attractive one on the regional calendar."
The source added that the T&T Cricket Board has been able to secure sponsorship for the series and this swayed the WICB in sending the tournament to T&T.
"The TTCB has been very proactive in getting a sponsor to take care of this series and hence they have been given the tournament to host by the WICB.
"Somehow the folks at the TTCB are able to get that investor confidence and as a result one of their national Government bodies has agreed to sponsor the tournament which is expected to create great excitement among the fans with the Limacol Caribbean Premier League not being played until June next year."
It is understood that the TTCB are finalizing their deal with a government body to take care of the funding of the tournament and matches will be played at the Queen's Park Oval. The format of the tournament is still to be worked out but it is expected to be played in two groups with the winners and runners-up going into the semi-finals, leading to the Championship match.
Most of the regional stars will be available for the series, as it comes at the end of the West Indies tour to New Zealand later this year and ending in the first week of January.
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