ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) — The West Indies Cricket Board yesterday announced a deal with US-based global sports network ESPN to broadcast the inaugural Caribbean Twenty20 Tournament scheduled to bowl off next month.

Matches in the July 22-31 tournament will be televised live on the two ESPN Caribbean networks ESPN and ESPN 2, with coverage on ESPN networks in the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Africa, and in Australia and New Zealand.

Regional broadcasters Caribbean Media Corporation are expected to show match highlights the following day.

“The West Indies Cricket Board is extremely pleased to be staging the Caribbean T20 Tournament and we believe it will be spectacular event for the players of the region and the millions of fans who witness it,” WICB chief executive Ernest Hilaire said.

“It is great to see we have formed a relationship with ESPN to ensure that our players and cricket get global exposure and provide cricket lovers all over the world with the opportunity to get a taste and feel of cricket in the Caribbean once again.”

Bernard Stewart, vice president of ESPN Caribbean and Maritime Media, said the company was pleased to have formed the new partnership.

“ESPN is thrilled to add this premier Caribbean event to our Caribbean programming line up,” Stewart noted

“Cricket is fundamental to our efforts to forge local relationships to bring the sporting excellence of the Caribbean to sports fans in the region and around the world.”

The agreement, the financial details of which were not disclosed, will see the tournament getting live multimedia coverage on ESPN’s digital platforms including ESPN3.com, ESPN, Inc.’s U.S. broadband platform, and ESPN360 broadband platforms in Australia and Latin America.

Eight teams, comprising Barbados, Combined Campuses and Colleges, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and Windward Islands and overseas side Canada, will contest the tournament.

The first stage of the competition, which runs from July 22-25, will be played in Barbados with the second stage being played in Trinidad and Tobago from July 28-31.

The tournament replaces the now defunct Stanford Twenty20 tournament.