By Shanique Richards
St. Kitts Reporter
The TCL Group of Companies will be sponsoring the West Indies Under 19 Cricket Challenge 2007 for the fifth time this year. The tournament has been in existence for 39 years and several teams have participated in the big event.
There are six teams this year: Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Windward Islands, and Trinidad and Tobago. St. Kitts will be hosting the affair for the second time this year and the venues chosen for these matches are Warner Park, Conaree, Cayon, and Molineaux.
There is also a Kittitian player, 18-year-old Terrance Ward, a member of the Leeward Islands team.
Ingleton Liburd, president of the St. Kitts Cricket Association told The Observer that at this point the matches are at the three-day tournament stage where each team will be playing against each other.
There will be five rounds during this stage, which are scheduled from July 22-August12. The tournament will then move to the second stage, the one-day matches. These games begin on August 13 and end with the final which will be held on August 18.
Liburd continued, “The matches are free until we move into the finals at Warner Park on the 18th where there will be an admission fee of $10.00EC. Local vendors are also permitted to come out and gather sales however at the finale there have been arrangements for refreshments. Although there are no monetary rewards for the players a championship trophy will be given to the winners.
“There are 12 West Indies selectors watching the tournament and they will be looking at the different performances to determine who will be most suitable for the West Indies Under 19 team. At the end of these matches a 20-man team will be chosen and they will begin training for the youth World Cup 2008 held in Malaysia. The selection is based on their performance, attitude, and development so far,” Liburd said.
“We are expecting a big turn out at the One-day matches at each venue. There will be three different matches being played each day at the same time. I encourage everyone to come out to these matches and support the youngsters.
“This tournament encourages youth to become ambitious and athletic as they work towards becoming members of the youth ICC World Cup Cricket 2008. The tournament also helps in the tourism industry as there are over 100 visitors at this time and hotels and restaurants are getting business that is not popular around this time of year so it is also of value to our country. I would like citizens to see the conscientiousness of this event and support it,” Liburd expressed.
