PORT-OF-SPAIN (Trinidad), April 25: Saying that one day a parallel league will emerge similar to that of the Indian Premier League (IPL), West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) President Dinanath Ramnarine announced that $160,000 jackpot is at stake in a Twenty20 Club Cricket Championship to be held from May 2 to l1 in Trinidad.

The runners-up of the tournament will receive $50,000. Several top clubs in Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, St Kitts, Barbados, among others will participate in what is being described as the “most lucrative club competition”.

Ramnarine said one of the main reasons for this project was the “development of communities which clubs represent”.

He added that cricket was the only and most unifying sport of the West Indies, bringing together people of various cultures, religions, ethnicities, social status with tournament being a small start for clubs dismissing claims that WIPA is solely focused on international cricket.

The new initiative comes from, among others, former cricket stars of 1980s and 1990s like Colin Croft, Rajindra Dhanraj, Curtly Ambrose and Ramnarine.

—Agencies