The St.Kitts-Nevis Patriots franchise, hosted a press conference at the conference room of the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday 5th July 2017.
The proceedings were ably chaired by Mr. Jamir Claxton, Director of Sports on Nevis.
In the spotlight, were Mr. Richard Berridge-CEO of the SKN Patriots and Mr. Val Henry-Events Manager of the SKN Patriots.
The two gentlemen revealed some exciting information that would certainly serve to whet the appetites of Nevisian cricket lovers.
The second annual friendly match between the SKN Patriots and the Premier’s X1 will be played at the ET Willett Park on Saturday 29th July, commencing at 11.00 am.
Prior to the start of the match, a coaching session will be held by Coach Phil Simmonds, with some of Nevis’ finest young players.
A small fee of $5.00 will be charged for the game, for adults, while children under 12, will get in free. The money collected will be donated to the further development of the game on Nevis.
Both men urged the Nevisian public to support the team in this year’s CPL games that will be played at Warner Park and pointed out that they have made it easier this year for the fans in Nevis to access the games.
Tickets and merchandise will be sold at TDC in Charlestown from 27th July and boating arrangements will be made for persons travelling to and from the games.
In terms of the actual CPL games, the Patriots will start their campaign in Florida on the 5th and 6th of August. 2017.
The following weekend, they will go to St. Lucia; then to Trinidad and then to Warner Park.
While in St.Kitts, the following matches will be played:
Friday 18th August-v Barbados Tridents
Saturday 19th August-v St.Luica Stars
Monday 21st August-v Jamaica Tallawahs
Wednesday 23rd August-v Trinidad
They also used the opportunity to stress that the continued relationship with Nevis is key, for the SKN Patriots and noted that plans are already in place to develop a Cricketing academy on Nevis and to put in place a premier league between the two islands, which will serve to identify more players for the prestigious team.
During the question and answer period, it was revealed that apart from mega star Chris Gayle, having signed with the team, the other international stars previously signed will not be available.
Ben Cutting is injured and Chris Morris will not be available.
Further, it is expected that Alzarri Joseph and Kieran Powell will be selected to tour England with the West Indies test team and if that happens, replacements will be found, one of whom will be Tonitto Willett.
Early bird tickets are currently available on line at sknpatriots.com. For example, for the South stand, the early bird price is now $35.00. From the 12th July to 10th August, it moves to $40.00 and then after that it will be $50.00.
Fans are urged to get their tickets and merchandise early in order to avoid the rush.