Jamaica will have a team back in the CPL next summer, and the newcomers – Jamaica Kingsmen – have immediately been given a head-start in recruitment. Under rules confirmed on Thursday, the Kingsmen can snap up the first three Jamaican players in May’s draft without anyone else getting a look-in. Think Andre Russell, Rovman Powell, maybe Brandon King if they so choose, though they can only pinch one player from any 2025 squad.
It’s all part of a fresh three-year contract cycle the league says is aimed at “competitive balance” while still giving youngsters a leg-up. Fair enough. The CPL has also expanded to seven sides, so something had to give.
Who are the Kingsmen? They’re owned by US-based Pakistani businessman Fawad Sarwar, the same man behind Hyderabad Kingsmen in the PSL – that outfit reached the play-offs at the first attempt, so he’s clearly not averse to making a splash. Jamaican fans have been without a local franchise since the Tallawahs folded in 2023; this fills the gap, if under a new badge.
After those three unopposed picks, the draft flips to a snake format based on last season’s table. Existing franchises hold a right-to-match card on up to four names (five if one of their Jamaicans is poached at the top). Only one pre-draft retention is allowed and it has to be a “breakout” player – translation: someone classed as emerging during the 2025 campaign.
Worth noting, too, that the main draft covers West Indies talent only. Overseas players – five per squad, with four allowed in any playing XI – will be signed directly. Final squad size is 17: nine senior Caribbean players, those five imports and three breakout lads from the feeder tournament. One of the breakout trio must play every match.
Tournament operations director Michael Hall summed up the tweaks: “We have worked closely with the seven CPL franchises, Cricket West Indies, and other key stakeholders to develop a framework that allows us to successfully introduce a seventh team while maintaining competitiveness and fairness across the league.”
Dates are locked in: the 2026 season starts 7 August in St Vincent and wraps up with a 20 September final at Kensington Oval, Barbados. Pencil it in – plenty of moving parts, but the league hopes the new system keeps things tight while giving the Kingsmen a decent launch pad.
