CPL 2019: St Lucia Stars reaches dead end of their league sojourn

St Lucia Stars will no longer be a participant in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). The development came to the fore after an agreement between the CPL and the Royal Sports Club, LLC, which is an entity that operates the franchise. The upcoming edition of the CPL is scheduled to get underway on September 4 and the Royal Sports Club no longer holds the right to operate a team.

The Stars finished sixth in the points table in the erstwhile season, winning only three out of their 10 matches. The team was being led by Kieron Pollard, who had moved from the Barbados Tridents. Pollard replaced Darren Sammy as the Stars’ skipper, but he couldn’t change the fortunes of the franchise. The CPL put forth the news of the St Lucia’s scrapping through a media statement.

“CPL Limited is 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,” CPL was quoted as saying. The release also added that more information about the new entity will be communicated in due course.

Not a great journey for St Lucia Stars

Stars were one of the original teams established in the inaugural season back in 2013. Earlier, St Lucia were known as the Zouks. However, in 2017, it was re-branded to the St Lucia Stars. Sammy, who had won a couple of World T20 titles for the West Indies, couldn’t live up to expectations. Hence, he was replaced as the captain, though he was a part of the squad last season.

St Lucia mostly finished fifth or sixth in the T20 league. 2016 saw them qualify for the playoffs the only time, but they lost to the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in the second playoff game in St Kitts. As far as Pollard is concerned, he would now be playing for the Knights in the upcoming season.

Last year, the TKR became the first team to get their hands on the CPL trophy as many as twice in consecutive seasons under the leadership of Dwayne Bravo. For the time being, it would be interesting to see if the tournament authorities bring a new team in such a short span of time.

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