da 888casino： Cricket clubs, especially those with adequate financial resources,have been strongly urged to develop their facilities
Haydn Gill02-Sep-2001Cricket clubs, especially those with adequate financial resources,have been strongly urged to develop their facilities.Doing so would ensure that Barbados moves into a position to playfirst-class matches outside of Kensington Oval and also have enoughgrounds to quality for hosting regional tournaments such as the RedStripe Bowl, says Minister of Sports Rudolph Cappy Greenidge.He threw out the challenge to clubs in an address at the BarbadosCricket Association’s (BCA) 2000 awards ceremony at Kensington Oval onFriday night.I am going to appeal to clubs, especially those clubs with money to dowhatever is possible to upgrade their grounds, clubhouses and ourcricket generally, Greenidge told the small audience.There are clubs with money that are doing absolutely nothing to helpus. We are lagging behind places like Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago andGuyana when it comes to having three or four grounds that we can playcricket at simultaneously in any particular tournament.Since the inception of the Red Stripe Bowl in 1997, Barbados havenever hosted a leg of the competition. Jamaica, which can boast ofhaving at least six grounds capable of staging such matches, will hosta zone for the fifth successive year next month, while Guyana, whichhas just as many grounds, will do so for the third time in five years.Whenever you are having a regional tournament now, the teams come intoone island and play at Ground 1, 2 and 3, Greenidge said. All of thosegrounds would have to be at a certain level. We do not have that leveland I believe that the time has come for us to move away fromKensington as being the only place that we have that we can playcricket like that.The Windward Club ground in Lucas Street, St Philip, was utilised lastyear for a first-class match between Barbados and South Africa A, butit was not used during this year’s Busta Cup when each of Barbados’six home matches was played at Kensington.Greenidge identified Windward, the North Stars ground in Crab Hill, StLucy, and the Cable & Wireless BET ground in Wildey as those withpotential to hold regional matches.We have grounds in Barbados that are up there and they are almostready but we need to spend some money to get us up to where Jamaica,Trinidad and Guyana are, he added.The sports minister also urged the BCA to try to have its annualawards ceremony no later than four weeks after the completion of theseason, as the celebratory effect could be diminished if it was heldwell after the season.He, however, commended the BCA for its innovations for this domesticseason, which included the introduction of covers and a new format inwhich matches were played over two successive days, starting at 10:30a.m. daily.No one can ever criticise the BCA for that. It is history that whoeveris president, whoever is responsible for those initiatives, especiallycovers, must at some time be regarded as a person or as a group ofpersons to have made a significant contribution to cricket inBarbados, Greenidge said.He observed that in an effort to attain outright results over the twodays, some teams were approaching batting in a rush and he suggestedthat half-hour could be added to the beginning and end of each day’splay, thereby extending the match by a further two hours.He also lauded the BCA for having a benefit match for Winston Reidearlier this year and said he hoped there could a chain of benefitmatches for those who have contributed so much to cricket.