JOHN’S, Antigua – Just half-dozen players from outside of their home territory were picked up by franchises during the 2019-20 Player Draft for the West Indies domestic professional season today.
Kjorn Ottley, a member of the Combined Campuses & Colleges Marooners side that last November won the West Indies Super50 Cup, now sponsored by Colonial Medical Insurance, headlines the list of six players chosen during the Player Draft staged at the corporate headquarters of Cricket West Indies here.
The Trinidad & Tobago-born batsman, whose solid batting at the top of the order helped to earn the composite Marooners side their first ever regional title, was attained from the Player Pool by the Barbados Pride as one of its five draft picks.
His compatriot Tion Webster was also retained by the Pride and his Marooners teammate, wicketkeeper/batsman Amir Jangoo, also from T&T, was picked up by the Leeward Islands Hurricanes, becoming the third recognised wicketkeeper/batsman on their contracted list.
Former West Indies Under-19 captain, off-spinner Ramaal Lewis of Jamaica returns to the Guyana Jaguars, for whom he played last season; Guyanese Bhaskar Yadram, another former Windies Under-19 graduate, was picked up by Windward Islands Volcanoes, who lost out to the Jamaica Scorpions on the choice of wicketkeeper/batsman Denis Smith, after he was surprisingly left off their “protected player” list following a notable performance during the last Championship season.
A handful of players have returned to the franchise in their home territory’s after playing outside in past seasons.
Kyle Mayers returned from the Volcanoes and found a place on the Barbados Pride contracted list, along with fellow all-rounder Roshon Primus, who previously played for the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force.
After playing in previous seasons for the Hurricanes, Nkrumah Bonner made onto the contracted list of the Jamaica Scorpions, which also includes fast-medium bowler Marquino Mindley, who played six games for the Pride last season.
FRANCHISE CONTRACTED SQUAD LISTS
(NOTE: 1. Players chosen in the Draft are highlighted in colour, 2. Players chosen from outside of the franchise’s home territory are further highlighted with their home territory in brackets following their names)
GUYANA JAGUARS: Devendra Bishoo, Anthony Bramble, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Clinton Pestano, Leon Johnson, Veerasammy Permaul, Raymon Reifer (Barbados), Romario Shepherd, Vishaul Singh; Christopher Barnwell, Tevin Imlach, Keon Joseph, Ramaal Lewis (Jamaica), Gudakesh Motie
BARBADOS PRIDE: Shamarh Brooks, Jonathan Carter, Miguel Cummins, Justin Greaves, Keon Harding, Chemar Holder, Kyle Mayers, Shayne Moseley, Shamar Springer, Tevyn Walcott; Dominic Drakes, Kjorn Ottley (Trinidad & Tobago), Roshon Primus, Tion Webster (Trinidad & Tobago), Kenroy Williams
LEEWARD ISLAND HURRICANES: Sheno Berridge, Quinton Boatswain, Keacy Carty, Rahkeem Cornwall, Jahmar Hamilton, Montcin Hodge, Damion Jacobs (Jamaica), Jeremiah Louis, Kieran Powell, Devon Thomas; Nino Henry, Amir Jangoo (Trinidad & Tobago), Jaison Peters, Adelvin Phillip, Terence Warde
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO RED FORCE: Bryan Charles, Joshua Da Silva, Kyle Hope (Barbados), Imran Khan, Jason Mohammed, Anderson Phillip, Khary Pierre, Denesh Ramdin, Odean Smith (Jamaica), Jeremy Solozano; Yannic Cariah, Akeal Hosein, Isaiah Rajah, Keegan Simmons, Daniel St. Clair
JAMAICA SCORPIONS: Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, Akim Frazer, Assad Fudadin (Guyana), Nicholson Gordon, Derval Green, Brandon King, Andre McCarthy, Paul Palmer Jr, Aldaine Thomas; Dennis Bulli, Christopher Lamont, Marquino Mindley, Denis Smith (Windward Islands), Alwyn Williams
WINDWARD ISLANDS: Sunil Ambris, Alick Athanze, Roland Cato, Kirk Edwards (Barbados), Kavem Hodge, Ray Jordan, Shermon Lewis, Obed McCoy, Devon Smith, Josh Thomas; Kenneth Dember, Dillon Douglas, Larry Edward, Desron Maloney, Bhaskar Yadram (Guyana)
ABOUT THE PLAYER DRAFT
The Player Draft was organised with the goal of achieving an equitable distribution of the available player talent in the West Indies Championship and Colonial Medical Insurance West Indies Super50 Cup.
Each Franchise contracts a minimum of 15 players, as follows:
- 10 players pre-selected from their home territory or from the previous season’s roster (also known as “protected players”);
- 5 players drafted from the Player Pool with a minimum of two from outside the franchise’s territory; and
- Each franchise can have one international player (i.e. non-eligible West Indian player) at its own cost
The six franchises participated in the Player Draft through a selection panel consisting of:
Barbados Pride
Roland Butcher – Interim Chairman of Selectors
Emmerson Trotman – Head Coach
Guyana Jaguars
Esuan Crandon – Head Coach
Anand Saenasie – Chief Executive Officer
Jamaica Scorpions
Junior Bennett – Chairman of Selectors
Andrew Richardson – Head Coach
Leeward Islands Hurricanes
Sylvester Joseph – Coach
Trinidad & Tobago Red Force
Tony Gray – Chairman of Selectors
Mervyn Dillon – Head Coach
Windward Islands Volcanoes
Andre Coley – Head Coach
The Player Draft was webcast through the WICB’s website, www.windiescricket.com, and was conducted over five rounds. Each franchise had to pick a player in each round and had 1 minute, 30 seconds to select the player. Where a selection was not made within the stipulated time, the offending franchise missed their turn and waited until all other franchises made their selection in that round before making its selection.
The selection order for the Player Draft was the reverse order of the final league position in the 2018-19 West Indies Championship. The sequence below was followed and repeated for each round:
- Windwards Volcanoes
- Jamaica Scorpions
- Trinidad & Tobago Red Force
- Leeward Islands Hurricanes
- Barbados Pride
- Guyana Jaguars
-CWI
