Brathwaite is one of four players to be retained by the new St Kitts and Nevis franchise

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

A new St Kitts and Nevis franchise will replace the Antigua Hawksbills during this year’s edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

According to CPL chief operating officer Pete Russell, the Hawksbills franchise has not been terminated but was left out since the tournament cannot accommodate seven teams.

“We haven’t terminated the (Antigua) franchise,” Russell told the Trinidad Express. “The rationale behind it is we have a window which the WICB gave us within which we have to play all the games. It’s impossible with the window for us to play more than six teams.

“Each team will play ten games. That’s the first time that’s happening. Each team will play each other twice. In our view, the format is as it should be. We couldn’t fit seven teams into the format.”

The other problem with the Hawksbills franchise, which was sponsored by Virgin Atlantic in the past, is the fact that it has no owner.

“The reason for doing what we’ve done, we got to make sure of the long-term sustainability of the league,” he said. “The sustainability of the team is ensured by each team having its own owner.

“We’ve been speaking to the government for some time. They’ve known that this was a possibility. We’ve given them the option as to how they could have kept the team, that was obviously getting an owner there. For 2015 we felt St Kitts was the right move.”

The St Kitts and Nevis franchise will now receive the players retained by the Hawksbills. These players include Carlos Brathwaite, Devon Thomas, Justin Athanaze and Orlando Peters.

The CPL draft will take place on February 5 and the tournament will run from June 21 to July 26.