Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

CAMPBELL

THE JAMAICA Cricket Association (JCA) will, next Thursday, hold a press conference to officially launch a national Twenty20 League club championship which will include several of the nation's top cricketing clubs, as well as overseas teams.

The lague, to be held in the first half of next year, will be the first of its kind in Jamaica for national clubs and parish associations and will follow in the footsteps of the much-talked about Social Development Commission (SDC) National Twenty20 Community League (see story B4) and other regional and international competitions, including the Stanford and West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) 20/20 tournaments and the hugely popular and successful Indian Premier League.

"The league will be like no other, locally, with a number of firsts and a mega sponsor to be introduced," said JCA Vice-president Paul Campbell.

"It will involve the nation's top clubs and parish associations and will be sponsored to the tune of millions by a top local corporate entity. It will have innovations for players, spectators, umpires and officials and is a response to several calls for the institution of such a league," he said.

According to Campbell, who is engaged in a heated battle for the post of president of the association with Ambassador Courtney Walsh, after long-serving president Jackie Hendriks refused to seek re-election, the league is a part of the JCA's overall vision and strategic mission.

Dominant

He said, as the body charged with growing and developing the game locally, it was the JCA's goal and vision to "re-establish cricket as the number-one sport and recreational activity in the country and the Jamaican cricket team as the most dominant in West Indies cricket.

"The league is a continuation of the JCA's thrust to achieve and maintain minimum cricketing standards as we seek to take the game fully professional, and comes after the staging of a successful semi-pro league (the Jamaican Super League) championship," he said.