The team that was picked by the Hero CPL commentary team – Ian Bishop, Samuel Badree, Daren Ganga, Simon Doull and Danny Morrison, also includes South Africa’s Faf Du Plessis, who captained the Kings and Tallawahs’ captain Rovman Powell.
In fact, players from the Kings and Tallawahs dominated the selection with only Sunil Narine of four-time champions Trinbago Knight Riders among the selectees while other than Mayers, only Jason Holder was selected among the 11 from the Barbados Royals.
However, the selection panel picked the Royals’ Ramon Simmonds as the 12th man as a result of his impressive performances throughout the tournament.
Simmonds is one of the 12 emerging players in the Hero CPL squads and has been an important part of the Barbados Royals team in 2022.
The 2022 Hero CPL Team of the Tournament: Johnson Charles (Saint Lucia Kings), Kyle Mayers (Barbados Royals), Faf Du Plessis (Saint Lucia Kings), Rovman Powell (Jamaica Tallawahs), Raymon Reifer (Jamaica Tallawahs), Imad Wasim (Jamaica Tallawahs), Jason Holder (Barbados Royals), David Wiese (Saint Lucia Kings), Alzarri Joseph (Saint Lucia Kings), Mohammad Amir (Jamaica Tallawahs) Sunil Narine (Trinbago Knight Riders) and 12th man – Ramon Simmonds (Barbados Royals).
First-time finalists the St. Lucia Zouks had only one member selected for the XI eleven players selected by the tournament’s commentary team of Tom Moody, Ian Bishop, Daren Ganga, Danny Morrison and Samuel Badree.
Three members of the Guyana Amazon Warriors squad and two players from the Jamaica Tallawahs and one each from St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and the 2019 champions, Barbados Tridents, made the cut for the team captained by TKR’s Kieron Pollard.
“After healthy discussion and debate the commentators have finalised what they believe is a power-packed all-star XI from Hero CPL 2020,” said Tom Moody, who is also CPL’s Director of International Cricket.
In a tournament dominated by world-class spin, there was an abundance of riches, Imran Tahir again proved a challenge to all who came his way. Kieron Pollard’s all-round skills again brought some eye-catching performances; it was an easy decision to make him the captain after a flawless league stage.
The team is as follows: Glenn Phillips (wk) – Jamaica Tallawahs; Sunil Narine – Trinbago Knight Riders; Shimron Hetmyer – Guyana Amazon Warriors; Nicholas Pooran – Guyana Amazon Warriors; Darren Bravo – Trinbago Knight Riders; Kieron Pollard (capt) – Trinbago Knight Riders; Mohammad Nabi – St Lucia Zouks; Jason Holder – Barbados Tridents; Rayad Emrit – St Kitts & Nevis Patriots; Imran Tahir – Guyana Amazon Warriors; Mujeeb ur Rahman – Jamaica Tallawahs
The selectors also picked one Caribbean and one overseas 12th man to round out the squad. These are as follows: Scott Kuggelejin – St Lucia Zouks and Keemo Paul – Guyana Amazon Warriors.
The final of this year’s tournament will take place tomorrow, Thursday. 10 September, at 10 am Eastern Caribbean Time at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
The team features nine Caribbean players and two overseas stars and selection rewards consistent performances across the 2021 tournament. The team heavily features young players from across the Caribbean who have been extremely impressive in this year’s Hero CPL.
The team includes Ravi Rampaul who is the leading wicket-taker for this season and the World Cup-bound Evin Lewis who has been excellent throughout. The two overseas players who make the team are Faf du Plessis and Tim David, both from the Saint Lucia Kings. The performances of Rampaul and Roston Chase in the tournament has seen them gain selection for the West Indies squad for the ICC T20 World Cup.
“The commentary panel, in selecting the team of the tournament would like to commend the teams and players for making the job a very challenging one,” said Ian Bishop, former West Indies fast bowler and member of the commentary panel.
“A few players stood head and shoulders above the crowd due to their high level of excellence, and their performance simply made their case impossible to ignore. With the remaining selections there was vigorous debate and sometimes splitting hairs due to the high levels of performance and competition for similar roles from experienced, mid-level and young players.
“The abundance of talent, enthusiasm and passion shown by so many players in 2021 was laudable and once again made the tournament extremely competitive and compelling viewing. We accept and welcome the view that fans will have varying opinions and debates on their favourite commend all the players for their distinguished efforts throughout the tournament.”
Hero CPL 2021 Team of the Tournament
Evin Lewis (St Kitts & Nevis Patriots), Faf du Plessis (Saint Lucia Kings), Nicholas Pooran (Guyana Amazon Warriors), Roston Chase (Saint Lucia Kings), Kieron Pollard (Trinbago Knight Riders), Tim David (Saint Lucia Kings), Sunil Narine (Trinbago Knight Riders), Romario Shepherd (Guyana Amazon Warriors), Odean Smith (Guyana Amazon Warriors), Akeal Hosein (Trinbago Knight Riders) and Ravi Rampaul (Trinbago Knight Riders).
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