The CPL goes to seven teams, and Jamaica finally gets its cricket back
The Caribbean Premier League’s 14th season starts on 7 August with a franchise count it has never had before, a returning Jamaica side, the Tridents name restored in Barbados, and a St Vincent ground making its debut.
Aug 3, 2026
The Caribbean Premier League starts its 14th season on 7 August, and for the first time there will be seven teams in it. That number has been six since 2013. Getting to seven took the return of a franchise that had gone bust, a name change in Barbados, and a ground in St Vincent that has never staged a CPL match agreeing to host the opening weekend.
Jamaica are back, and this time the cricket is too
The Jamaica Tallawahs folded in 2023 when their owner, Kris Persaud, sold the team back to the league and bought the rights to a new franchise in Antigua, which became the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons. Jamaica, the country that won the first CPL in 2013 and has three titles in total, second only to Trinbago, simply had no team.
Kingsmen Sports Enterprise bought in for 2026 and the side is called the Jamaica Kingsmen. The two-year gap in the franchise list undersells it, though. CPL cricket has not been played in Jamaica since 2019, so the island has been without a home game for considerably longer than it has been without a team.
As the new team, the Kingsmen were given the first three picks in the draft, unchallenged, on the condition that they used them on Jamaicans. They took Rovman Powell, who has been made captain and who leaves Barbados after three seasons, then Andre Russell, then Vitel Lawes. Russell is the pick that carries the history: he won CPL titles with the Tallawahs in 2013 and 2016 and has spent the last four seasons at Trinbago.
Barbados go back to being the Tridents
The Barbados franchise has been the Royals since Royals Sports Group took over in 2021. From this season it is the Barbados Tridents again, the name it carried from 2013 to 2020, and the pink kit introduced with the 2021 rebrand gives way to the island’s blue and yellow.
The rename sits inside a three-year arrangement the franchise is calling One Barbados, under which the Government of Barbados becomes a minority co-investor, subject to approvals. Royals Sports Group keeps majority ownership and still runs the team day to day. The old Tridents won the title in 2014 and 2019.
Arnos Vale opens it, Kensington Oval closes it
The first three matches are at Arnos Vale Stadium in St Vincent and the Grenadines, which has never hosted CPL cricket before. Jamaica Kingsmen against Antigua and Barbuda Falcons on 7 August is the opener, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots play Trinbago Knight Riders on 8 August, and the Falcons are back out against Saint Lucia Kings on 9 August.
The other end of the tournament has moved as well. Every knockout match, the Eliminator, both Qualifiers and the final, will be at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown between 16 and 20 September. Barbados has been in this league since the start and has never hosted the final until now.
Why Indian viewers will recognise half the teamsheets
Trinbago Knight Riders arrive as champions, having beaten Guyana Amazon Warriors by three wickets at Providence last September for a fifth title, more than any other franchise. They are also, for Indian audiences, the familiar one: the Knight Riders Group that owns Kolkata Knight Riders bought into the Trinidad team in 2015 and renamed it ahead of the 2016 season.
The squads carry plenty of IPL faces beyond that. Sunil Narine, Nicholas Pooran and Kieron Pollard are at Trinbago. Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope are with Guyana. Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers are at St Kitts and Nevis, Alzarri Joseph and Evin Lewis at the Falcons, and Russell is now back in Jamaica colours.
Each squad is 17 players, split into nine West Indians, five overseas signings negotiated directly rather than drafted, and three breakout players, at least one of whom has to be in the XI every match. That last rule is the one worth watching. A league in its 14th season is under no obligation to hand overs and middle-order slots to players nobody has heard of, and this one has written the obligation into the squad sheet. It might be the least glamorous line in the CPL rulebook and the most useful.