The Caribbean Premier League (abbreviated to CPL or CPLT20) is an annual Twenty20 cricket tournament held in the Caribbean. It was founded by Cricket West Indies in 2013 to replace the Caribbean Twenty20 as the premier Twenty20 competition in the Caribbean. It is currently sponsored by Republic Bank Limited and consequently officially named the Republic Bank CPL. The inaugural tournament was won by the Jamaica Tallawahs who defeated the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the final.
History Twenty20 domestic cricket first appeared in an organised manner in the West Indies in 2006 with the privately organised Stanford 20/20. The second and last edition of the Stanford competition was officially made part of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) calendar in 2008, after which the tournament ended when its sponsor Allen Stanford was charged with fraud and arrested in June 2009. The next organised Twenty20 competition came about with the creation of the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament by the WICB. The Caribbean Twenty20 was created to fill the gap left by the end of the Stanford 20/20 and to coincide with the 2010 Champions League Twenty20 tournament, which started less than two months after. The top domestic team from the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament qualified for the Champions League as the sole representative of the West Indies.
The WICB first announced the plans for the Caribbean Premier League in September 2012 when it was revealed that the board was "in the advanced stages of discussions to have a commercial Twenty20 league in the region" with an unnamed investor and hoped to conclude a deal before 30 September. On 14 September, the board met to make decisions on the structure and organisation of the Caribbean Twenty20 CPL Schedule in January; to discuss the governance structure of the board and also discuss the planned commercial Twenty20 league and to finalise its structure. The Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) and the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) were also to be brought in to discuss issues pertaining to players in relation to the planned T20 league. On 13 December 2012, the WICB announced that they had finalised an agreement with Ajmal Khan founder of Verus International, a Barbados-based merchant bank, for the funding of the new franchise-based Twenty20 league to be launched in 2013. It was then expected that the new Caribbean Premier League was likely to comprise six Caribbean city-based franchises as opposed to the current territorial set-up with the majority of the players are to come from the West Indies. As part of the agreement, the WICB will receive additional funding from Verus International for additional retainer contracts for players in addition to the 20 annual retainer contracts the board currently funds.
Dates for the tournament were confirmed for the 2013 Caribbean Premier League as 29 July to 26 August. The 2014 and 2015 tournaments took place between 5 July to 10 August and 21 June to 26 July respectively and the 2016 tournament took place between 29 June to 7 August.
Format CPL The CPL T20 tournament is played between seven teams and is divided into a group stage and a playoff stage. In the group stage, the teams each play ten matches overall, including five home matches. But unlike other prominent T20 leagues which follow a proper home and away format stretching throughout the season, the CPL has an unusual format as the teams play all their home games consecutively within a week. The matches are played at 2 venues at once where the respective home teams play 5 matches each while the other teams play 2 matches, then the whole tournament moves to two other locations, and so on. Seven stadiums are used (see Venues below), each a home field for one of the teams. The playoff stage includes an eliminator, two qualifiers and a final to determine the winner of the tournament. All playoff games are played at a single venue.
The 6ixty The 6ixty is a T10 league organized by Cricket West Indies and the Caribbean Premier League that is scheduled to be played four times a year, starting with a five-day men's and women's tournament in August 2022. A number of significant changes are made to the usual rules of T10 cricket:
Teams are all out (i.e. they can't bat anymore) upon losing 6 wickets, rather than 10. The first 5 overs of each innings will all be bowled from one end of the pitch, with the other 5 overs bowled from the other end. Fielding teams must bowl the 10 overs of an innings within 45 minutes, or they lose a fielder during the final over. The batting team can 'unlock' a third powerplay over by hitting two sixes in the initial two powerplay overs.
Teams
The tournament includes seven franchises with fifteen contracted players each, including a maximum of five international players and four players under the age of 23. Each team has one local and one international franchise player.
Team Home ground Captain Head coach Antigua & Barbuda Falcons Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Saint George Moeen Ali Paul Nixon Barbados Tridents Kensington Oval, Bridgetown Chris Green Trevor Penney Guyana Amazon Warriors Providence Stadium, Providence Imran Tahir Lance Klusener Jamaica Kingsmen Sabina Park, Kingston, JamaicaRovman Powell Grant Bradburn St Kitts & Nevis Patriots Warner Park Sporting Complex, Basseterre Jason Holder Simon Helmot Saint Lucia Kings Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, Gros Islet Roston Chase Daren Sammy Trinbago Knight Riders Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain Brian Lara Cricket Academy, San Fernando Nicholas Pooran Dwayne Bravo
Former teams Team Debut Last refAntigua Hawksbills20132014(2 February 2015). "New franchise to replace Hawksbills in CPL 2015" – ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 2 February 2015.Jamaica Tallawahs20132023
Seasons Six teams that have played in the Caribbean Premier League since its inception and was increased to seven teams in 2026. Trinbago Knight Riders are the most successful team in the history of Caribbean Premier League, with 5 titles. They are followed by Jamaica Tallawahs with 3 titles and Barbados Tridents with 2 titles. The current champions are Antigua & Barbuda Falcons who defeated Jamaica Kingsmen in 2026 to win their 1st CPL title.
+CPL season's resultSeasonFinalPlayer of the seriesVenueWinnersResultRunners-up2013Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Jamaica TallawahsTallawahs won by 7 wicketsScorecard Guyana Amazon WarriorsKrishmar Santokie (Guyana Amazon Warriors)2014Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis Barbados TridentsTridents won by 8 runs (D/L) Scorecard Guyana Amazon WarriorsLendl Simmons (Guyana Amazon Warriors)2015Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad & Tobago Red SteelRed Steel won by 20 runsScorecard Barbados TridentsDwayne Bravo (Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel)2016Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis Jamaica TallawahsTallawahs won by 9 wicketsScorecard Guyana Amazon WarriorsAndre Russell (Jamaica Tallawahs)2017Brian Lara Cricket Academy, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago Trinbago Knight RidersKnight Riders won by 3 wicketsScorecard St Kitts & Nevis PatriotsChadwick Walton (Guyana Amazon Warriors)2018Trinbago Knight RidersKnight Riders won by 8 wicketsScorecardGuyana Amazon WarriorsColin Munro (Trinbago Knight Riders)2019Barbados TridentsTridents won by 27 runsScorecardGuyana Amazon WarriorsHayden Walsh Jr. (Barbados Tridents)2020 Trinbago Knight RidersKnight Riders wonby 8 wickets ScorecardSt Lucia ZouksKieron Pollard (Trinbago Knight Riders)2021Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts and NevisSt Kitts & Nevis PatriotsPatriots won by 3 wicketsScorecard Saint Lucia KingsRoston Chase(Saint Lucia Kings)2022Providence Stadium, Providence, Guyana Jamaica TallawahsTallawahs won by 8 wicketsScorecard Barbados RoyalsBrandon King(Jamaica Tallawahs)2023Guyana Amazon WarriorsAmazon Warriors won by 9 wicketsScorecardTrinbago Knight RidersShai Hope(Guyana Amazon Warriors)2024St Lucia KingsKings won by 6 wicketsScorecardGuyana Amazon WarriorsNoor Ahmad(St Lucia Kings)2025Trinbago Knight RidersKnight Riders won by 3 wicketsScorecardGuyana Amazon WarriorsKieron Pollard(Trinbago Knight Riders)2026Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, BarbadosAntigua & Barbuda FalconsFalcons won by 8 wicketsScorecardJamaica KingsmenShadab Khan(Antigua & Barbuda Falcons)
Number of titles Team(s) Title(s) Runner-up Seasons won Seasons runner-up Trinbago Knight Riders 5 1 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2025 2023 Jamaica Tallawahs† 3 – 2013, 2016, 2022 – Barbados Tridents 2 2 2014, 2019 2015, 2022Antigua & Barbuda Falcons1–2026– Guyana Amazon Warriors 7 2023 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2024, 2025 St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 1 2021 2017 Saint Lucia Kings2 2024 2020, 2021 † Team now defunct
Teams' performances scope="col" 20132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Antigua Hawksbills 5th 6th – Antigua & Barbuda Falcons – 5th 4th W Barbados Tridents 3rd W RU 5th 5th 6th W 5th 6th RU 5th 3rd 6th 4th Guyana Amazon Warriors RU RU 3rd RU 3rd RU RU 3rd 4th 3rd W RU RU 3rd Jamaica Tallawahs W 3rd 4th W 4th 4th 6th 4th 5th W 3rd –Jamaica Kingsmen – RU St Kitts & Nevis Patriots – 6th 6th RU 3rd 4th 6th W 5th 6th 6th 5th 6th Saint Lucia Kings 6th 5th 5th 4th 6th 5th 5th RU RU 4th 4th W 3rd 5th Trinbago Knight Riders W 3rd W W 3rd W 3rd 6th RU 4th W 7th
Records and statistics +Caribbean Premier League recordsESPNcricinfoCategoryStatisticRecord holderValueBatting recordsMost runsJohnson Charles3519Highest scoreBrandon King132* (72), vs Barbados TridentsBowling recordsMost wickets Sunil Narine133Best bowlingShakib Al Hasan6/6 (4 ov), vs Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel FieldingMost dismissals (wicket-keeper)Nicholas Pooran82Most catches (fielder)Kieron Pollard86 Team recordsHighest total Trinbago Knight Riders 267/2 (20 ov), vs Jamaica TallawahsLowest total Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel 52 (12.5 ov), vs. Barbados TridentsHighest run chaseSt Kitts & Nevis Patriots242/6 (18.5 ov), vs Jamaica TallawahsHighest win margin (runs) Trinbago Knight Riders133 runs, vs Barbados Royals
Sponsorships Caribbean mobile network Digicel was named as the first global sponsor for the inaugural 2013 tournament and beyond in a multi-year deal. As previous sponsors of the West Indies cricket team and the Digicel Caribbean Cup the brand has considerable experience with sponsoring cricket and other sporting events throughout the Caribbean. "The CPL is a perfect fit for Digicel. We’re huge fans of West Indies cricket and this is a great opportunity for us to invest not only in what will be an amazing event, but also in the young cricketers who will benefit from around the region," stated Digicel Group Marketing Operations Director Kieran Foley.
Following the acquisition of the Guyana Amazon Warriors franchise owner, Dr. Ranjisingh 'Bobby' Ramroop's New GPC Inc, specifically its Limacol brand, has assumed the title sponsorship of the CPL.
In June 2013 Courts announced their sponsorship of the Caribbean Premier League "CPL's partnership with Courts is a very strategic and beneficial one to both parties, and we are thrilled about the possibilities that exist for us from a marketing perspective," said CPL CEO Damien O' Donohoe. "Combining our advertising and marketing programmes with that of Courts will heighten the awareness of CPL across the region, and increase fan support, which will put people in the stands at matches and customers in the aisles of Courts."
El Dorado Rum has been named as an official partner of the inaugural tournament, and sponsors the tournament's Catch of the Match award, which goes to one player in each game who makes a thrilling catch.
In 2013 and 2014 season, Limacol was the title sponsor. Hero was title sponsor from 2015 to 2022. Republic Bank became the title sponsor in 2023 season.
See also List of Caribbean Premier League cricket five-wicket hauls List of Caribbean Premier League records and statistics Women's Caribbean Premier League
References