The 2020 CPL will have a full season take place in Trinidad & Tobago from August 18 to September 10, after the organisers got the final nod from the local government. A total of 33 matches including two semi-finals and a final will be played behind closed doors across two stadiums.
As per the agreement between the CPL and the T&T government, all the participants – squads and team management of the six franchises, the organisers and the rest of the crews – will need to self-isolate for two weeks before they board their flights, and for two weeks upon arrival in T&T. All the overseas participants will be tested for Covid-19 before departure and then upon arrival followed by two more tests – seven days and 14 days after their arrival.
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A CPL release said big names such as Rashid Khan, Chris Lynn, Carlos Brathwaite, Dwayne Bravo, Alex Hales and Kieron Pollard are “all set to take part” in the competition.
All six teams will stay in the same hotel in Trinidad and “everyone will be subject to strict quarantine protocols for the first two weeks they are in the country”. Even within that bio-secure bubble, each team will be broken up into “households” with social distancing in place. There will be smaller clusters within each household where these measures can be relaxed. In case anyone from one of the clusters displays signs of Covid-19 at any time during the tournament, all members of that cluster will have to self-isolate for 14 days. No other guests will be allowed to stay at the hotel hosting the teams.
“We will continue to monitor the situation concerning COVID-19 and to be on top of it, as it is a rolling situation and requires different rules and regulations as time goes on,” T&T minister of sport and youth affairs Shamfa Cudjoe said in a news conference. “Once we bring off this tournament successfully and I am sure we will, then it will be a lesson for us in hosting other games.”
The CPL is set to be the first time people from outside of T&T are allowed into the country since the closure of its borders in late March. The Caribbean has been less affected during the Covid-19 pandemic compared to other countries, with T&T recording only 133 positive tests and eight deaths until July 9, according to data released by its health ministry. As a precaution, the T&T government has closed borders even to other countries in the Caribbean and its own citizens who are overseas.