PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Caribbean Premier League organisers are poised to make history here Tuesday when they stage the first-ever bio-secure Twenty20 franchise tournament amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and officials are confident Trinidad has the ability to pull off the showpiece despite mounting public health challenges.

The CPL will be the first set of high-level cricket to be held in the Caribbean since the outbreak of the virus forced the halt of the domestic first class championship after eight of the 10 rounds last March, and then forced the postponement of all scheduled international home tours.

With a limitation on regional travel due to country lockdowns, the tournament will be staged exclusively here at Queen’s Park Oval in the capital and the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, in the south of the island.

Last weekend, the Trinidad and Tobago government announced a new 28-day lockdown, which started Monday to mitigate against a new spike in infections, but assured the CPL would go ahead as planned owing to the bio-secure environment created over the last three weeks.

All 33 games of the August 19 to September 10 tournament will be played behind closed doors and under strict social distancing and other health protocols, as prescribed by the Trinidad and Tobago government.

And Douglas Camacho, chairman of the Sport Company of T&T, said the focus of the tournament would be on preserving the integrity of the bio-secure bubble which will see players, staff and administrators housed at one hotel, transported securely to and from venues on training and match days, without interaction with the general public.

He also explained that strict social distancing guidelines would be enforced at venues to keep players and stadium staff apart.

“All the players, officials, everybody are in basically bio-bubbles, the Hilton Hotel which is the residential bio-bubble,” Camacho told i95FM Sports here.

“They leave there in secured vehicles to go to training at the University ground which is a second bio-bubble for training, only available to the cricket folk. And then the third and fourth bio-bubble would be the … Brain Lara Academy and then the Queen’s Park Oval.”

He continued: “The people who have to prepare the facilities, they go in, they prepare, they leave. There will be no contact between players and any of the other support services. 

“The players play their games … they come off, they all go to their secure area [which is] social distanced and obviously with grounds of the size of Brian Lara Stadium and Queen’s Park Oval, it’s easy to keep that social distancing. 

“In the event of rain when you have to cover the pitches, the players will come off first then the staff will come from a completely different part of the venues and cover the wicket. 

“Everything is in place. The world is eagerly waiting on this, the first kind of big T20 global tournament.

“We anticipate huge TV audiences in the region of maybe 400 million people so it’s all systems go and hopefully Trinidad will be able to showcase that even in these difficult times of COVID-19, that we’re able to put things in place to still have activity take place.”

All 162 players, staff and administrators tested negative for COVID-19 before arrival here and subsequently twice returned negative tests during quarantine, to be cleared for involvement in the tournament.

Reigning champions Barbados Tridents will launch the defence of their title when they take on St Kitts and Nevis Patriots at 5:30 pm, in the second match of a doubleheader at the Brian Lara Stadium.

The Bridgetown franchise will be led again by West Indies Test captain Jason Holder but will see a major change in the coaching setup with former Warwickshire pro Trevor Penney taking over from Phil Simmons as head coach.

Simmons, the West Indies head coach, took charge for Tridents for the first time last year and oversaw an immediate turnaround, against the backdrop of the 2018 season when the franchise managed only two wins and missed out on the playoffs.

The opening match at 10 am will see last year’s losing finalists, Guyana Amazon Warriors, clashing with star-studded hosts Trinbago Knight Riders.

Amazon Warriors played unbeaten for the duration of last year’s campaign before tasting their only defeat in the final.