St. Lucia Zouks set to be the newest addition to Caribbean Premier League
St. Lucia Zouks will be making their Caribbean Premier League debut next month as the competitionâs sixth team in what will be its seventh season. They will be replacing the St. Lucia Stars after its owners ended their contract with the league but the Zouks have recruited most of its players.
St. Lucia Zouks will be looking forward to make their debut as a team when they face the Guyana Amazon Warriors at their home ground on September the fifth in the opening round of the upcoming season of the Caribbean Premier League. They will be facing each of the other five teams in two matches each as per the tournamentâs format. The top four teams at the end of the stage qualify for the semi finals.
The team came into existence after the owners of St. Lucia Stars terminated its contract of participation in the league. The CPL management declared that they wonât any longer have a right to manage a franchise in the competition and the league will be looking for replacements soon. After an extensive process to make the new team operational, it has been rebranded as St. Lucia Zouks and has most of its original players.
The Stars werenât particularly successful through the course of their existence, failing to reach a final in their six years with their best finish being the third spot in 2016. The Zouks however have an impressive squad containing the likes of countrymen Darren Sammy, Andre Fletcher, Rakheem Cornwall, John Campbell and Andre McCarthy among several other emerging talents. These players will be aided by the presence of Sri Lankan international Niroshan Dickwella and the legendary figure of Lasith Malinga. Fawad Ahmed from Australia and Proteasâ Beuran hendricks are other notable foreign names in the squad.
Coached by former England international James Foster, the franchise will be looking to make a mark in its very first season.