St. John’s (Antigua), March 15 : Cricket West Indies (CWI) has confirmed that this year’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will feature a women’s tournament with three franchise teams competing for the first Women’s CPL (WCPL) title. The three teams – Barbados Royals, Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinbago Knight Riders – will showcase the best women’s cricketers from across the Caribbean with overseas stars rounding out the teams. The women’s tournament will take place during the men’s event inside the CPL tournament window which this year will run from August 30 to September 30. “Increasing the opport ties for West Indian women and girls to get involved in cricket is one of CWI’s strategic priorities, and we are delighted that we have been able to partner with CPL to further the expansion plans that we had first unveiled in 2019 prior to the arrival of the Covid Pandemic,” said Ricky Skerritt, CWI President. The CPL will be played across more countries this year, with three Caribbean countries being selected for the group stages and fourth venue being chosen for the finals. CPL anticipates that this four-venue structure could become the norm for future seasons. “The addition of a women’s event to the CPL is something that has been an ambition for a long time and we are very pleased that it has become a reality. We would like to thank CWI for working with us to make this happen. The Women’s T10 Challenge which took place during the 2019 CPL was a huge success and we are looking forward to the next step forward,” said Pete Russell, CPL’s CEO.