Caribbean Cricket Podcast · Machel St Patrick Hewitt

CPL has too many veterans (CCP rant)

·39 min·2 clips

"We've got way too many older, experienced, former internationals who are running roughshod over CPL."

They open with a blunt complaint. CPL, they argue, is too willing to let veteran overseas players take the big roles while younger West Indian cricketers are left watching, fielding, or picking up scraps on the scorecard. That is the core gripe. They move through team-by-team examples, starting with Trinidad and the way Nathan Edward appeared once before McKennie Clark became the breakout-league body in the XI. The numbers do not help the case. Clark has four appearances and only three overs bowled, which the hosts treat as a sign that the selection is not really about giving local talent a fair run. The rant widens from there. They point to Deysi, Ashmeet Ned, Judea Blades, Afanay, and Mikael Nunes as other examples of younger or fringe players getting very little time while older overseas names keep the prime spots. Nobody on the mic is pretending that is fine. The joke is that a breakout-league bowler is being used like a standing fielder so a franchise can keep stacking its overseas quota. From there, the episode keeps dragging the argument back to the future of West Indies cricket. The hosts keep asking what a Caribbean domestic competition is for if it cannot help the next generation actually play meaningful cricket. Results still matter. They do not deny that TKR, Guyana, or St. Lucia might end up winning the whole thing, but they will not let a title paper over the development cost. That is where the conversation sharpens. The scoreboard, they note, is already crowded with familiar overseas names, with Colin Munro leading the run charts and Tim Pfeiffer close behind. So the issue is not just taste. It is a league that keeps saying it wants to grow the game while handing the biggest jobs to older imports and asking local talent to stay ready on the edge. The hosts keep it lively and argumentative throughout. What comes through most is a hard, funny, scorecard-minded plea for CPL to stop wasting the younger players who are supposed to be the future.

As heard by us

A stats-backed argument about CPL selection and the cost of blocking youth.

The piece lands on a clear grievance: CPL keeps leaning on overseas players while younger West Indian names are left with too little room, and the hosts keep that frustration anchored in overs bowled, appearances logged, and the wider pattern around breakout talent.

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Why you'd press play

You want a blunt CPL take that still brings the scorecard.

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