GPL set to return next year
THE Guernsey Premier League is to return next summer.
The T20 competition that, in its previous incarnation which comprised three editions from 2011-13, saw four franchise sides draft the island’s best players to play alongside professionals including the likes of England internationals Paul Franks, Dimi Mascarenhas and Jake Ball as well as South African cap Nic Pothas, who went on to become the island’s director of cricket, is being brought back by the Guernsey Cricket Board in 2021.
Just how grand a scale it will be played out on – and whether professionals can come to the island to take part – will be determined by the pandemic.
It could be a preparation event for any ICC competition or the showpiece of the season.
‘The size of it depends on how much cricket we will get off-island next year,’ said GCB chief executive Mark Latter.
‘We will use it either as a warm-up to the season to give the guys something to focus towards in their winter training for the main season or as a higher-profile event if we are restricted to only domestic cricket again.
‘Basically, it is either having good quality cricket on-island as a springboard for playing in ICC pathway events or simply to keep the [island squad] players keen and training hard with something different to look forward to – hopefully with pros involved.
‘We cannot really make the call on the scale of it until the first quarter of next year when we know more about the situation with the pandemic and the related travel issues etc.’
The tournament will be held at the KGV, probably over three weekends, and will be streamed live around the world following the success of such broadcast ventures last summer when Guernsey was the first place to play cricket in the British Isles when coming out of lockdown.
‘The window we are looking at is the start of the season – the end of April into May,’ Latter said.
‘It has also been suggested about perhaps getting a few of the Jersey cricketers involved to add more quality and quantity.
‘It is still in the embryonic stage and what we go for in terms of scale is dependent on what news we get early next year regarding the pandemic, travel and ICC events.’
