‘Bobby’ Ramroop buys Guyana Caribbean Premier League T20 Franchise
Georgetown Guyana – With the start of the inaugural Caribbean Premier League tournament just about two months away, reports reaching Kaieteur News state that local businessman, Dr. Ranjisingh ‘Bobby’ Ramroop, owner of the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation (New GPC) and several media outfits including the Guyana Times, and five radio frequencies, has purchased the Guyana Franchise.
Dr. Ranjisingh ‘Bobby’ Ramroop
An official announcement is expected shortly confirming Dr. Ramroop as the Guyana Franchise owner.
Just like the Indian Premier League (IPL), franchise teams can be bought by private individuals and companies. The CPL has been fashioned similarly.
As we would have seen, the earning power of the IPL and the amount of money spent to buy top quality players, the Caribbean version stands to do well, hence the interest of persons with the requisite funding.
The CPL’s six franchise countries are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.
The Caribbean Premier League is an annual T20 cricket tournament in the West Indies. It was created in 2013 and replaces the Caribbean T20 as the premier Twenty20 competition in the West Indies. The First CPL T20 Season is set to starting from July 29, 2013 with the final being on August 26, 2013.
The West Indies Cricket Board first announced the plans for the Caribbean Premier League in September 2012. On December 13, 2012, the WICB announced that it had finalized an agreement with Ajmal Khan, founder of Barbados-based merchant bank, Verus International, for the funding of the league.
As part of the agreement, the WICB will receive additional funding from Verus International for additional retainer contracts for players in addition to the 20 annual retainer contracts the board currently funds.
Dr Ramroop stands poised to reap a windfall with his satellite uplink facilities. All Guyana matches will represent a major television fee for the franchise holder. With the international audience, Ramroop can easily market his franchise to the international community, particularly India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The Guyana Squad for the event was chosen during the past week and boosts a powerful line-up – Mohammad Hafeez, Denesh Ramdin, Ramnaresh Ronnie Sarwan, Veerasammy Permaul, Sunil Philip Narine, Narsingh Deonarine, Christopher Dion Barnwell, Lendl Mark Platter Simmons,
James Edward Charles Franklin, Martin James Guptill, Krishmar Santokie, William Keith Donald Perkins, Steven Anthony Jacobs, Ronsford Rodwick Beaton and Trevon Abashai Griffith were the players chosen.
Matches scheduled for the Providence Stadium:
Guyana vs Trinidad & Tobago – Date 31/07/2013 Time- 20:00
Jamaica vs Guyana – Date 02/08/2013 – Time- 20:00
St Lucia vs Guyana – Date 04/08/2013 – Time- 20:00
Antigua vs Jamaica – Date 04/08/2013 – Time- 20:00
