St. Lucia Stars out of 2019 Caribbean Premier League
In a press release, Caribbean Premier League officials revealed that the St. Lucia Stars franchise will not be a part of the tournament from 2019 season onwards. Meanwhile, St. Lucia owner Jay Pandya hit out at CPL officials saying he is working with them to sort out pending issues.
St. Lucia Stars will no longer be a part of the popular Caribbean Premier League as per a recent press announcement from league officials. On August 7, CPL Limited terminated the participation agreement between themselves and the Royal Sports Club, LLC, the company that operated the St. Lucia franchise since the start of the league.
While announcing the decision through a media release, the Caribbean league did not elaborate on the reasons behind the termination. However, the press release did mention that CPL were "in the process of establishing and operating a new franchise to be based in St Lucia that will participate in the 2019 Caribbean Premier League."
Meanwhile, St. Lucia Stars owner Jay Pandya, the chief executive and owner of Royal Sports Club LLC and Global Sports Ventures based out of Pennsylvania, revealed his disappointment with CPL's decision in an interview to ESPNcricinfo.
"We completely disagree with the CPL press release and will be working to address any issues the CPL may have in an appropriate manner and forum," Pandya told ESPNCricnfo.
The Stars had never won CPL but their best finish came in 2016, when they finished third on the table as they lost the Eliminator to Trinbago Knight Riders. Last season, they finished fifth among the six team bagging seven points from ten matches. The CPL outfit has several star players in their squad with the likes of Darren Sammy, Kieron Pollard and Rahkeem Cornwall among the local stars while David Warner, Niroshan Dickwella and Mitchell McClenaghan were part of the overseas players' roster.