The CG United Super50 Cup returns on October 29, with the Caribbean’s 50-over cricket rivalries reignited for the first time since February 2021. Newcomers West Indies Academy and Combined Campuses and Colleges will join the six regional franchise teams to contest the tournament, which will be played in Antigua and Trinidad from October 29 to November 19.

The 2022 edition of the region’s pre-eminent 50-over white-ball competition also marks the start of the countdown towards the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup and an opportunity for players across the West Indies to push for consideration and selection for the one-day international.

Trinidad & Tobago Red Force will defend their title and host zone A featuring the Windward Islands Volcanoes, Guyana Harpy Eagles and CCC. Zone B will feature hosts Leeward Islands Hurricanes, Barbados Pride, Jamaica Scorpions and West Indies Academy. The opening match sees Leeward Islands facing West Indies Academy.

West Indies Academy players will have the development opportunity to play List A cricket against the best in the Caribbean. This opportunity is part of the academy programme’s main objectives of bridging the gap between youth and professional cricket in the region. The West Indies Emerging Players side famously won the Super50 Cup in 2019 and six of those players have since gone on to represent West Indies.

The opening match will be the first of ten zone B games to be played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, all of which will be broadcast live on ESPN Caribbean, the exclusive Caribbean broadcast partner of the tournament, as well as on ESPN+ in the United States. Two further zone B games will be played at the Coolidge Cricket Ground, the home of Cricket West Indies.

All of the zone A matches in Trinidad will be split equally between the Brian Lara Cricket Academy and Queen’s Park Oval, with the first two games played on October 31. Every zone A match will be streamed live on the West Indies Cricket YouTube channel in the Caribbean and around the world.

Each team will play six group matches, playing each of their zone competitors twice. The top two teams from each zone will qualify for the semi-finals, which will be played in Antigua at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on November 16 and 17. The final will be at the same venue on November 19.

Johnny Grave, the Cricket West Indies chief executive, said: “The 2022 CG United Super50 Cup promises to be an action-packed event for our fans to feast on exciting cricket rivalries and for players to push for selection to West Indies. This year’s tournament feature some of the region’s best and upcoming talent competing to win the CG United Sir Clive Lloyd Trophy.”

Grave added: “We are looking forward to seeing the West Indies Academy and CCC play against our professional regional teams and expect the competition to provide them with an excellent development opportunity. This will help to broaden the pool of players being exposed to highest levels of competition at the regional level. CWI welcomes and thanks title partners CG United for their continued sponsorship of the CG United Super50 Cup, as their investment has proved invaluable to the development of the game in the region.”

Overseas broadcast partners for the CG United Super50 Cup are ESPN+ (USA), BT Sport (Britain and Ireland) and FanCode (India).

Additionally, live ball-by-ball scoring for all 27 matches will be available on the match centre at www.windiescricket.com.