With the Caribbean Premier League 2021 action around the corner, St Lucia Zouks has rebranded to St. Lucia Kings. The franchise also unveiled a new identity and logo as they confirmed the news in a media release reported by ESPN.

In 2020, the CPL franchise was sold to KPH Dream Cricket Brand Limited, which also owns Punjab Kings in the IPL. Coincidentally, Punjab Kings, also under the KPH Dream Cricket Brand Ltd consortium, changed their name from Kings XI Punjab ahead of the IPL 2021. 

According to the release, the St Lucia Kings name and logo change is consistent with the KPH Dream Cricket brand while keeping with the true essence of Saint Lucia through its name and colors of the national flag.  ESPNcricinfo reported that Satish Menon, the CEO of Saint Lucia Kings team, affirmed the name change citing that Saint Lucia Kings is more in line with the positioning of the KPH Dream Cricket brand. He said they also believe that the time was right to merge the sister brand and its inherent values with the mother brand.

The release from the franchise stated,” The Saint Lucia Kings will share branding and other assets with their colleagues at the IPL as the ownership team moves to further cement ties between the two brands. This synergy will help build on the successes the team has had since the new owners arrived after they finished as runners-up at last year’s Hero CPL tournament.”

According to the franchise, the brand name and monogram, lion in the team’s logo, stand for exuberance. At the same time, the blue epitomizes the sky and the sea, specifically the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which engulf the nation. The roaring lion monogram infuses vigor and vibrancy. The newly minted logo looks identical to the Punjab Kings, though in a blue shade. 

This season, the squad coached by Andy Flower and captained by Faf du Plessis will have Daren Sammy as the assistant coach and mentor in their lineup. Sammy captained the squad until last year where they finished as the runners-up, narrowly missing the opportunity to win the season.

While commenting on the new logo and brand identity of St. Lucia Kings, Sammy said in the release, “I love the logo, and I love the new name. It’s a pleasure to be associated with the Kings Franchise, and I truly hope that the name can inspire our players to play like the true Kings that we are!”

In a similar fashion, IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals bought a majority stake in Barbados-based CPL franchise, Barbados Tridents. The franchise will now be known as Barbados Royals and will be the third team after the St Lucia Kings and Trinbago Knight Riders (owned by Kolkata Knight Riders) to be run by IPL franchise owners. 

Meanwhile, as the CPL 2021 Schedule is announced and CPL is set to begin on August 26, St Lucia Kings have a task ahead of them. Like their IPL counterparts, they are yet to win a CPL title. However, they hope for better results given the momentum they built last year when they came close to clinching the title. They emerged as the runners-up after losing to Trinbago Knight Riders by eight wickets in the final. 

The Kings play their first CPL 2021 match against the Jamaica Tallawahs on Friday, August 27. Captained by former South-African captain Faf du Plessis, the St Lucia players list will also include Andre Fletcher, Wahab Riaz, Matthew Wade, and Rahkeem Cornwall in their ranks.

Here is the St Lucia Full Squad for CPL 2021:

Keemo Paul, Andre Fletcher, Kesrick Williams, Obed McCoy, Rahkeem Cornwall, Mark Deyal, Roston Chase, Javelle Glen, Keron Cottoy, Jeavor Royal, Kadeem Alleyne, Alzarri Joseph.

Overseas Players: Faf du Plessis, Matthew Wade, Samit Patel, Wahab Riaz, Usman Qadir

CPL 2021 will be held between August 26 and September 15. In addition, all 33 games will be played at Warner Park in St Kitts and Nevis.

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