A Daren Bravo-led Trinidad and Tobago Red Force team will contest the opening match of the 2023 Regional Super50 tournament versus the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) from 9 am at the Queen's Park Oval in St Clair on Tuesday.
Red Force, winners of the 2021 Super50 tournament, will be looking to reclaim the regional crown after suffering a three-wicket loss to Jamaica Scorpions in last year's final at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. Also on Tuesday, Guyana Harpy Eagles will face the Windward Islands Volcanoes at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA) in Tarouba from 1pm. Led by West Indies Twenty20 captain Rovman Powell, the Scorpions will begin their title defence on Wednesday against the Leeward Island Hurricanes at the BLCA.
On Monday, Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Kishore Shallow announced an increase in the tournament's prize structure. As part of CWI's US$ 2.5 million-plus investment into regional cricket for the next four years, the Super50's championship-winning team in 2023 will pocket US$ 100,000. The tournament's second-placed team will receive US$ 50,000. The team that finishes atop the standings after round-robin play in the group stage will also receive US$ 50,000. Eight teams will contest the Super50 this year, with each team playing each other once for a total of seven group games – a format that mirrors the ongoing 50-over Cricket World Cup in India.
Interestingly, a new bonus points system will be implemented in this year's tournament to reward the playing style that is desired by WI white-ball coach Daren Sammy.
"Coach Sammy will outline that brand to the players. He has already met with the coaches on October 2, and pretty much laid out that brand for them as well," said Miles Bascombe, CWI director of cricket.
"I like to call it 'brand points' as it rewards teams that play that brand as outlined by coach Sammy. Things like dot-ball percentages, which we know has been a pervading issue in our white-ball game (is being looked at). You'll get points if you are able to get below 50 per cent in any match."
In addition to a low dot-ball percentage, teams will be rewarded for wickets taken in the power play, scoring upwards of 200 runs in an innings and bowling out the opposition. Teams will also receive bonus points when a batsman scores a century and when a bowler takes a four-wicket haul - or better.
Bascombe said it was all about the bigger picture of WI cricket.
"This bonus points system will give us the prospect of having eight opening pairs who will play that brand. It will give us 16 openers to choose from. It's about getting players to understand the competencies which are required to play that brand."
The original points allocation will see four points for a win and two points for a no result. The final of the Super50 tournament will be played on November 11.
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