Six teams in Carib Beer Series

This season's Carib Beer Series, which begins on January 7, will be contested between six teams who will play each other home and away. The series will include the Carib Beer League and the Carib Beer Challenge. Significantly, no international teams will participate in the competition.

Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago and Windward Islands will compete in the league. The top two league teams will then play in the five-day Carib Beer Challenge game after the league stage is over, with the winner taking US$5000. A cash prize of US$12,000 has been announced for the winner of the League Cup.

The home-and-away format ensures that each team will play ten four-day games in ten rounds over a nine-week period, after which the finals - the Challenge - will be held from March 18 to 22. The League Series begins on January 7. But the early stages could be affected by the absence of top players, who will be playing the VB Series in Australia, which ends on February 8.