The Barbados Tridents have announced that Australian batsman Steve Smith will join their squad for the 2018 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) which will run from 8 August to 16 September.
According to CPL, Smith will replace Shakib Al Hasan who is no longer available for the tournament.
Smith has played 64 Tests, 108 ODIs and 30 T20 Internationals for Australia and is currently the number one ranked Test batsman in the world. With more than 3000 T20 runs, including a century and 11 fifties, Smith brings a huge amount of experience to the Tridents squad.
The Tridents get their season underway with an away trip to play the Guyana Amazon Warriors on 12 August before a match against St Lucia Stars on 17 August.
The Tridents will then play Jamaica Tallawahs in Lauderhill, USA before playing five matches at home between 25 August and 2 September.
Speaking of the signing of Smith, Tridents coach Robin Singh said: “It is a huge blow to lose Shakib for the tournament but in Steve Smith we have a truly world-class replacement who can help to bring power to our batting lineup. As a man who has played cricket at the highest level all over the world we are very confident that Smith will be a big success with the Tridents.”
Guyana’s leg of the tournament will commence on August 9, with tickets for the first three matches to be played at the Providence stadium currently on sale.
The first three home matches are:
Thursday, August 9 – Guyana Amazon Warriors v St Kitts Patriots at 18:00h (6:00pm)
Saturday, August 11 – Guyana Amazon Warriors v St Lucia Stars at 16:00h (4:00pm)
Sunday, August 12 – Guyana Amazon Warriors v Barbados Tridents at 18:00h (6:00pm)
In all, five (5) group matches and two (2) playoff matches (7 in total) are scheduled to be played in Guyana, however tickets for the other four matches will be on sale at a later date.
Tickets for the 2018 Hero CPL cost:
RED AND GREEN STANDS – G$5000
ORANGE STAND – G$3000
GRASS MOUND – G$2500
CPL fans in the Berbice can purchase their tickets at the residence of Mr Vijai Ramdhan at Lot 19 Princess Elizabeth Road, Queenstown, New Amsterdam, Berbice.
While Essequibo patrons can get tickets at the Imam Bacchus & Son’s Limited at Affiance on the Essequibo Coast.
Georgetown patrons can uplift their tickets at the head office at Camp and Quamina Streets.
For further information on ticketing please feel free to contact the CPL Guyana office on telephone numbers 231-5344, 231-2035 or 225-5840 and on e-mail – cplguyana@gmail.com or Mr. Ramdhan on #622-0982/#333-5981 and Imam Bacchus & Son’s Limited on #771 4996.
