Jamaica Kingsmen 2026 CPL Preview

2 days ago
2 min read

By Machel St Patrick Hewitt

2025 Review

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Jamaica Kingsmen 2026 CPL Preview: Fantasy Cricket Banker, Wildcard & Young Gun

Owned by Pakistani businessman Fawad Sarwar, the Kingsmen have had to start from scratch in compiling their roster.

The team has a Jamaican/Pakistani core with seven Jamaicans and several Pakistani players, and it is very much a case of "wait and see" vis-à-vis how they perform this year.

The Jamaican public are excited at the return of a CPL franchise, and it may well be that the vociferous Sabina Park crowd is what gets them over the line in tight games.

CPL draft rules allowed the Kingsmen to take up to three Jamaican players from other franchises, as well as an RMO (Right to Match Option) on any Jamaican player.

This allowed them to build around a key Jamaican cohort of Rovman Powell, Andre Russell, and Vitel Lawes. You would imagine that all three will play throughout the season and garner huge support from the home crowd. The remaining local spots have been used on players who have huge potential more so than proven output.

Therefore, there will be heavy expectations on the overseas contingent to deliver. Saim Ayub, Maaz Sadaqat, and Usman Khan will arrive from 19 August to replace Shayan Jahangir and Tayyab Arif, with Hassan Khan and Hunain Shah present for the duration.

If Jamaica can get the balance of their team right, then anything is possible.

Banker: Rovman Powell BAT | £8.2m

Rovman had a fantastic season in 2025 and is probably now in the sweet spot of his career where he knows his T20 game inside out. He struck at an SR of 184 for Barbados Royals last season while scoring 241 runs at an average of 48. He will relish the opportunity to captain his hometown franchise and thrive on leading from the front. If Jamaica do well, it will be because Rovman had a good season.

Wildcard: Odean Smith ALR | £7.1m

Odean Smith has gone from a T20 stalwart and CPL regular to an afterthought. Jamaica will be his third franchise in three years. Can he reignite a career that saw him take 18 wickets at an economy of 7.5 while scoring 126 runs at an SR of 133 five seasons ago?

Given his form over the last three seasons, he shouldn’t really be considered a first-choice player, but because he is a Jamaican, there is every chance he gets the benefit of the doubt—at least at the beginning of the season.

Young Gun: Vitel Lawes BWL | £4.0m

The talk of the town and the youngster making the biggest waves in the region. He is already a West Indies international and was very impressive in his five ODIs vs New Zealand. Those performances earned him a stint with the Desert Vipers in the Global Super League where he played all five matches, taking five wickets at an impressive economy of 8.

Having used their RMO on Lawes, it is very likely that Jamaica will play him in the majority of their matches.