There is no guarantee that a name change from the St Lucia Stars to St Lucia Zouks will bring about immediate success in the 2019 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL). However, Captain Daren Sammy and Coach James Foster were optimistic as the team prepared to play in Guyana on Thursday in their CPL opener.
An August 15 press release from Hero CPL T20 stated that the St Lucia Zouks will replace the St Lucia Stars for the 2019 CPL season, following the recent termination of the participation agreement with the company operating the Stars franchise.
Details about what led to the termination of the participation agreement were not disclosed during a press conference at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground on Tuesday morning. In fact, the press was not allowed to ask questions pertaining to that matter. In addition to Sammy and Foster, Minister of Tourism Dominic Fedee attended the press conference. Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, who had had to attend to an urgent matter, apologized for being very late but was still able to address the gathering.
Right off the bat, the captain delivered the opening remarks: “I think the buzz around the island with the St Lucia Zouks being back is one that I am very excited about,” said Sammy. “Last year the prime minister and myself, I think there was a video that we were calling to bring back the Zouks, so maybe we saw the future from last year. Being at this franchise for the last five years or six years, I think we are back to our rightful name.”
The Zouks don’t have a star-studded line-up, which might be of concern to some. Not this captain! He said: “What I envision with the squad we have put together is a lot of effective players. You might look at the Zouks team and see that we don’t have the stars, the superstars, but I think the coach and myself, we could be very happy with what we have. It’s a bunch of effective players. We have players for every position. We can’t wait to start our campaign in Guyana and when we come back here at home to entertain the Saint Lucian public.”
He went on to say: “Obviously, when I get out on the field, my goal is to win cricket games. I feel I have the manpower to go out there and do that. I am really looking forward to an exciting season where the first objective will be to get to the play-offs and eventually win the cup.”
Foster added: “There is a huge buzz about our squad; not just the playing squad, but most of the management squad. With the fact that we are now Zouks, we’ve got a very, very happy team.”
As the Zouks coach, he supports Sammy one hundred per cent and said: “I have worked with Daren before. He is an exceptional leader and, for me, it is about facilitating and trying to get the best out of our players.”
In the past the Government of Saint Lucia has provided financial assistance to the Zouks. This year is no different. Minister Fedee said: “The Government of Saint Lucia is extremely delighted to be part of this game. Cricket is one of those passions of our island and the Zouks, as well, is one of our favourites. We have been supporting this for three years now. The total sum is over US$1 million and that is really a testament to our own commitment to the Zouks.”Fedee called on Saint Lucians to give their overwhelming support to the team by coming out in large numbers.
What followed next was a question and answer session. Well sort of! It commenced with Marketing Co-ordinator Sue Monplaisir announcing to the media: “We will not be discussing the past ownership. There are a few matters that are still with legal and we are just not permitted to discuss certain things when it comes to the past. We are here to discuss the future. Any questions you have for our panel would be great.”
One question centred on the Zouks line-up. It was then that Sammy pointed out that the team was forced to make a couple of changes due to the unavailability of Lasith Malinga and Niroshan Dickwella who were originally drafted by the team. They have since been replaced.
Following his arrival, Prime Minister Chastanet delivered brief remarks: “We as a government, and I think like all governments, have done everything that we possibly can to be able to support the franchise here in Saint Lucia. The franchise went in a different direction the last two years. I think that we were all . . . I can say that publicly we were all uncomfortable with some of the directions that franchise was going in, so when the opportunity came for the Government of Saint Lucia to support this new initiative, we did not hesitate.”
The prime minister went on to say: “My government is a thousand per cent behind the Zouk franchise and two thousand per cent behind Daren. We are really hoping that all Saint Lucians will come out and support this team.”
