May 2008 Compliments of the Barbados Nation News

The 2008 Division 1 cricket season was ushered in yesterday by a brilliant century in the feature match of the day. Barrington Yearwood lashed a belligerent 153 off 118 balls for CGI Maple against Banks at The Brewery. It was a repeat of last season's final, and Maple, who finished second best last year, dished out meaty blows to close the day on 379 for eight. The 21-year-old Yearwood unleashed several authentic strokes, including this sweet cover-drive.

April 2008 Compliments of the Nation News Combermere's Roston Chase playing a stroke off his legs during his 30 that helped to defeat The St Michael School in the second round of the Barbados Cricket Association's Limited-Overs Under-19 Cricket Competition at Waterford, St Michael, yesterday. (Picture by Charles Pitt-Grant.)

Compliments of the Barbados Nation News The Barbados Cricket Association's Under-19 Schools Knockout Tournament bowled off yesterday with ten matches around the island. One of the venues was at Martindale's Road where The St Michael School defeated neighbours Harrison College by seven wickets. Photographer Charles Pitt-Grant was on hand and captured College's left-arm fast bowler Michael Knight sending down a delivery to St Michael's top-scorer Merton McCarthy.

Barbadian cricket fans have been enjoying the entertainment showbiz package of the Stanford 20/20 cricket tournament in Antigua. (Picture: Stanford 20/20). Compliments of the Nation News Can 20/20 really help WI cricket?

Date February 20, 2008 by FAZEER MOHAMMED Compliments of the Nation News

WHAT TO MAKE of this second Stanford 20/20 tournament?

It's certainly entertaining, occasionally exciting, sometimes amusing, and for those so preoccupied, even titillating. As a stand-alone event it has everything to attract a better than decent regional and international audience with world-class television coverage embellishing a tight, compact package overflowing with action and antics on and off the field.

During the last few days of the West Indies tour of South Africa, it was interesting to note how many fans were enjoying watching the matches, which were shown as one-hour highlights mere hours after each fixture on one of the many sporting cable stations over there.

Make no mistake, the 2008 edition of the Stanford 20/20 tournament is a really big hit, both at home and abroad, as a television spectacle. < Read more >

Cricket World Cup - 2007

Compliments of the Barbados Nation News by PHILIP SPOONER

THE GATES of Kensington Oval were spread open yesterday and close to 5 000 fans rushed in to catch the World Cup "fever" for free.

The match between the two surprise Super 8 teams – Ireland and Bangladesh – started with a small gathering, but by afternoon the stands were bursting as the crowd swelled to 15 511, which created the liveliest and most colourful party of the five weeks of the tournament so far. < Read more >

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WES HALL is happy. But what's new, he is always happy, always smiling, always bubbly, always the life of the party.

What's new is Kensington Oval, the spanking new ultra-modern cricket ground to host the final of the Cricket World Cup – the biggest event ever to come this side of the world.

The Reverend – former fast bowler, selector, manager, board president, senator and minister of Government – has fallen in love with the new facility which is the heartbeat of Bridgetown.

He celebrated with the thousands of Bajans and visitors on Saturday afternoon at the reopening of the ground, which has re-emerged after 19 months of hard work at a cost of $135 million.

"We have to know our history. We have to know where we have come from to know where we are and where we are going," he said. < Read more >

The statue of cricket's greatest player, Sir Garfield Sobers, was rededicated at its new home, the spanking Kensington Oval, yesterday evening. Sir Garfield, Prime Minister Owen Arthur and members of his Cabinet, as well as a number of former Test players, were on hand for the hour-long ceremony. Reverend Wesley Hall, who played cricket with Sir Garfield, described him during a brief address as a great but humble man. "There is not a trace of egotism in his body, but massive strokes of humility," Hall declared. Last year, the statue was moved from the Garfield Sobers Roundabout in Wildey, St Michael, to be a major attraction at the rebuilt Kensington Oval.

March 19th 2007 by HAYDN GILL in Jamaica Compliments of the Barbados Nation news

THE EVENTS of the past few days have demonstrated there are no predictable results in Cricket World Cup 2007.

As West Indies prepare to face Zimbabwe at Sabina Park today, they would have sat back and taken note of what Ireland did to Pakistan and what Bangladesh did to India on Saturday.

The shock results have thrown the notion through the window that the majority of group stage matches were going to be predictable with results in favour of the eight leading international nations against the fledgling countries.

Against that background, West Indies captain Brian Lara is not under-estimating either Zimbabwe or Ireland.

"It's going to be very competitive. Zimbabwe and Ireland have shown they cannot be taken lightly," Lara said yesterday.

"We're going to play the game with the same gusto like we had against Pakistan. A win tomorrow [today] will put us into the second stage, but it doesn't mean we have any points as yet.

"We've got a very important two games left and we're going to take each game one at a time." < Read more >

March 13th 2007 Compliments of the Barbados Nation News by HAYDN GILL in Jamaica

THE REHEARSALS and warm-ups are over. Today it is serious business. And following yesterday's final practice session at Kensington Park in Jamaica, Brian Lara and his men geared themselves mentally for their first mission of Cricket World Cup 2007 – beat the Pakistanis in today's lead-off first-round match of the tourney. Here (from left) Lara, Dwayne Smith, Kieron Pollard and Daren Powell going through a final exercise routine. (Picture by Brooks LaTouche Photography.) < Read more >

ALMOST THERE. Crews continue to work 24/7 to prepare Kensington Oval and its environs for hosting Cricket World Cup matches, including the grand final on Saturday, April 28. As the construction hoarding came down over the weekend, the impressive-looking facility caught the eye of many passers-by. Above, from the northen side, four special tents have been set up in the area called the Plaza, where the statue of Sir Garfield Sobers rests. Miles Weekes, chief facilities development officer for the Barbados local organising committee, told the DAILY NATION yesterday the tents were being erected for the February 17 opening event as well as during the World Cup to facilitate security checks of patrons and their possessions as they enter the Oval. (Picture by Gregory Waldron.) Nation News

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