The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) on Monday (July 27) unveiled complete fixtures for the 2020 edition with the first match to be played between Guyana Warriors and Trinbago Knight Riders on August 18.

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With this development, CPL is all set to become the first major cricket league to start amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Twenty20 tournament will run till September 10.

"The 33-match season will be played in Trinidad and Tobago, with all matches taking place across two stadiums in that country. The Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba will host 23 games, including the semi-finals and final, and the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain will have 10 matches," the CPL said in a statement.

The T20 league will be held behind closed doors under a bio-secure environment in order to avoid the potential COVID-19 spread.

The CPL's CEO Damien O`Donohoe is excited about the upcoming season.

"This year will be a different CPL, but the standard will be higher than ever. We have seen the appetite for live sport since it has returned after a prolonged absence, and the interest in CPL will be higher than ever with it being the first franchise T20 tournament to return," he said.

Speaking about the announcement of the tournament fixtures CPL's COO, Pete Russell, said: "We would like to express our gratitude to the government of Trinidad and Tobago for helping us to put on this tournament in such difficult circumstances. We are delighted that we are able to deliver a tournament that is ensuring the safety of the public and the players and that will be of such a high standard.

Despite the global COVID-19 crisis, CPL 2020 will feature overseas stars such as Rashid Khan, Chris Lynn, Alex Hales among others.