By Neto Baptiste
Former West Indies captain and legendary batsman Sir Vivian Richards has praised the impact of young players in this year’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL), saying the tournament has showcased a promising crop of emerging Caribbean talent.
Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo sports show, Richards, affectionately known as Sir Viv, said young players have been making their presence felt across the competition with impressive performances for their respective teams.
Among those to catch his eye is Barbados batsman Zachary Carter, who the Antiguan believes possesses the ability to become a significant player with greater experience and consistency.
“The young guy Carter out of Barbados, he’s seriously aggressive, he’s been getting some good starts, but I think he needs to work now on the fact that when he has such good starts, he’s got to see his team through; you cannot be throwing it away in that period of time,” he said.
Sir Viv acknowledged that learning to convert promising starts into substantial innings is part of the development process for a young player.
“I guess that’s the young individual because that comes with experience as well, and the more he plays, he can get better, but certainly, his ball striking ability is as good as any,” he added.
Carter, who represented the West Indies at the 2026 Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup, has scored 184 runs in seven matches at an average of 26.28, with a highest score of 57.
Sir Viv also identified fielding as an area where some of the younger players could improve, noting that their development must extend beyond batting and bowling.
“The only thing basically that you see around that maybe needs some brushing up as well, sometimes the catching doesn’t quite make the fielding coaches look that good,” he said.
One of four former cricketers to have received knighthoods here in Antigua, Sir Viv also highlighted Barbados Tridents’ Jakeem Pollard and Jamaica Kingsmen’s Vitel Lawes among the young bowlers who have impressed him during the tournament.
He said the return of Pollard was particularly encouraging after the youngster was hampered by injuries.
“From what I’ve been hearing is that individual, he had some injuries. He was also a member of the under-19 West Indies squad at some period of time and what would have kept him out, I think, would have been some serious injuries he would have had, but he’s back and he looks pretty impressive,” he said.
He also praised Lawes, adding: “The young guy from Jamaica as well, Lawes, so it’s looking good for us in terms of the talent that you see. I hope we can expand on that.”
Lawes has taken eight wickets in nine matches for the Kingsmen, while Pollard has claimed five wickets in seven matches.
Richards concluded that the emergence of players such as Carter, Pollard and Lawes represents a positive sign for the future of Caribbean cricket, with continued exposure in the CPL providing the youngsters with an opportunity to develop their skills against some of the region’s and world’s best players.
Sir Viv hails emerging CPL talent
