St John's: The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) on Monday announced the fixtures for the 2020 season, the first match will see last year's runners-up Guyana Warriors taking on Trinbago Knight Riders on August 18.
The CPL is all set to become the first major cricket league to start amid the coronavirus pandemic from August 18 while the final of the tournament will be played on September 10.
"The 33-match season will be played in Trinidad and Tobago, with all matches taking place across two stadiums in that country. The Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba will host 23 games, including the semi-finals and final, and the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain will have 10 matches," the CPL said in a statement.
The second match of the opening day will be played between defending champions Barbados Tridents and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
The tournament will take place behind closed doors in a bio-secure environment with a series of stringent protocols in place to protect those involved in the tournament and the wider population from the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The CPL's CEO Damien O'Donohoe is excited about the upcoming season.
"This year will be a different CPL, but the standard will be higher than ever. We have seen the appetite for live sport since it has returned after a prolonged absence, and the interest in CPL will be higher than ever with it being the first franchise T20 tournament to return," he said.
Speaking about the announcement of the tournament fixtures CPL's COO, Pete Russell, said: "We would like to express our gratitude to the government of Trinidad and Tobago for helping us to put on this tournament in such difficult circumstances. We are delighted that we are able to deliver a tournament that is ensuring the safety of the public and the players and that will be of such a high standard."
The CPL will have a full season and will feature overseas and Caribbean players with the standard higher than it has ever been with the likes of Rashid Khan, Chris Lynn, Carlos Brathwaite, Dwayne Bravo, Alex Hales and Kieron Pollard all set to take part.
Both the semifinals of the 2020 season will be played on September 8.
