One local cricket club could get the chance to compete in the second annual instalment of the Caribbean Airlines sponsored Caribbean Village Cricket, a T10 tournament launched in March last year in Trinidad.
This is according to president of the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association (ABCA), Leon “Kuma” Rodney, who said an invitation was extended to the body for the top local team in that format of the game here, to represent Antigua and Barbuda in this year’s edition of the tournament.
“Caribbean Airlines, over the last two years or so, have been holding something they call Village Cricket which took place in Jamaica, Guyana and I think, Trinidad. The teams that won in Guyana and Jamaica ended up with an all-expense-paid trip to play in the final round in Trinidad. This year they’ve asked to extend it to Antigua and Barbados so we have to try and factor in a week to play a T10 qualifiers for that specific tournament,” he said.
Hinting that a T10 qualifying tournament could be on the cards as a means of selecting the right team for the tournament, Rodney said the winning club stands to benefit significantly from the tournament.
“There are some new developments from a meeting which I will share with the clubs to determine whether they still want to go forward to the Caribbean Airlines tournament but from the information had, it is something that could be good for a club, the winning club going to Trinidad as it’s an all-expense-paid tournament by Caribbean Airlines. The winners have the possibility of walking away with about US$20,000 and I think it’s US15,000 for second place and US7,500 for third place,” the cricket boss said.
Guyana’s Demerara cricket team won the inaugural installation of the Caribbean Village Cricket following wins over Berbice and Essequibo, both of Guyana, before beating South East (Trinidad) and St Elizabeth (Jamaica) in their two final encounters in Trinidad.
Rodney further suggested that a reshuffling of the ABCA calendar could take place in an attempt to help players prepare for a planned Leeward Islands T20 tournament.
“Some adjustments would now have to be made to our tournament schedule instead of, maybe the next tournament which is scheduled [Super40]. We may have to resort to doing the T20 before and so forth so I would not want to speak to that until Kenny Lewis and his committee finalizes exactly the way in which we can get it done,” he said.
With one round of matches left in its Two-Day Championships, the ABCA was set to start it’s Super40 competition.
