Caribbean Recipes | Dominica Photos | Classified Ads | Search Jobs | Advertise here!

Purely Dominica

Purely Dominica


west indies cricket team

Editor’s note:This is a guest post written by Mark Richards, an opinion writer over at Antiguasunonline.com

I have written to you before about the state of West Indies cricket and I am happy to say that just about everything I mentioned more than a year ago seems to be happening.

Many members of the team appeared to have been getting better at international competition and just as this started to happen there are reasons again for the players to withhold their labour.

What we have to understand is that many of these fellows have gotten lots of money for doing absolutely nothing for West Indies cricket and the fans that believed in them.

The players were all for themselves and believed in the dollars. Now I am not saying that everything is the players’ fault because I believe the West Indies Cricket Board has also failed regional cricket.

Having said that, they are not active cricket players and cannot carry the hopes and aspirations of Caribbean people to all corners of the world through an exciting type of play other nations can only hope to reproduce.

So a new group of players have been chosen and the WICB seems intent on staying with these fellows over a protracted period of time.

I wish these new guys all the best in the world, but can assure you the same thing will happen in a few years from now. Some might get some good recognition, some money and then will demand lots of money for failing consistently.

Well, isn’t that what West Indies cricket has come to be about?

Share this Dominica article with your friends:

Facebook Twitter Google Buzz Google Bookmarks Digg Reddit delicious Technorati Slashdot Yahoo My Web

Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Related Post

It is probably with good reason that passersby in downtown Roseau have begun to glance nervously at the Windsor Park Sports Stadium, which dominates the city’s northern skyline.

The reason for their discomfort becomes clearer with each passing month. More often than not, the magnificent stadium looms large and silent. Its massive main gate is often shut and its 10,000 seats are usu¬ally empty. Most days, only birds swoop and perch on its media centre, practice nets, players’ complex, scoreboards and five cricket pitches.

Although the stadium is a multi-purpose complex, it was clearly built to be mainly a cricket centre. But despite lobbying by Dominica’s cricket officials, the stadium continues to be sidelined by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) as a venue for revenue generating inter¬national Test, One Day International and Twenty-20 cricket matches.

From all reports, Dominica’s bid to host at least one big match in upcoming cricket tours to the West Indies has been turned down because the island does not have enough hotel rooms and does not have an international airport with night landing facilities. As such, the stadium is starting to attract hard questions about its long-term viability.

There is no quick fix in sight for the lack of an international airport with night landing. There is also no short-term solution to creating the number of additional hotel rooms needed to reach the level of overseas visitors the WICB expects. Therefore, in the short term, the stadium is not likely to get major cricket matches and would not generate significant revenue from cricket.There are some alternatives. The stadium is already the venue for the World Creole Music Festival (WCMF) and significant national events. However, it is not clear how much revenue for the stadium these events generate. Indeed, the low level of activity at the stadium since it opened in October last year suggests that it would be in use for only 21 to 30 days each year.

Concerned persons are starting to ask: With this low level of activity at the new stadium, how can it positively impact the nation’s economy, especially tourism? Also, while the stadium itself was a gift from the People’s Republic of China, how will its maintenance costs be met? Can the events carded for the stadium this year earn enough profits to cover its upkeep during the times when it is not in use?

This is the time for innovative thinking on the part of the stadium’s curators. It is the time for serious research into all possible revenue streams. Someone has to take a long, hard look at the management of stadiums of similar size in other regional nations and see what plans and programmes are in place for them. Perhaps there are lessons to be learnt and strategies that could be emulated here.

Even so, it is hard to see how the number of international events at the stadium could be increased without a night access airport and a significantly higher number of good quality hotel rooms. This puts great pressure on those responsible for the stadium’s management to generate revenue from the facility. Maybe increasing the number of local sporting and other activities there would help. It is essential to maximize use of the stadium.

No one wants to see the splendid national stadium deteriorate through underutilisation and become a ‘white elephant’. So no one could be satisfied with the current low level of activities at the venue.

The nation has to recognise that this is a problem and pool ideas and resources to get the stadium up and running so it has every chance to be the jewel in Dominica’s crown it was intended to be.

This article was published in the editorial section of the Chronicle Newspaper – Issue: July 4th, 2008.

Share this Dominica article with your friends:

Facebook Twitter Google Buzz Google Bookmarks Digg Reddit delicious Technorati Slashdot Yahoo My Web

Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

Related Post

(AP) – Chaminda Vaas captured five wickets for 61 runs to lead Sri Lanka to an historic first win in the Caribbean; defeating West Indies by 121 runs with 6.4 over’s left in the opening test on Wednesday.

Resuming on 96 for one and needing 437 for victory, West Indies tried holding out for a draw and was bowled for 315 at Providence Stadium. World-class off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who bowled for most of the final day helped in with three for 112.

In a tense final hour Vaas bagged both final wickets with the new ball. He forced Jerome Taylor to edge a delivery to second slip, then four overs later and about 15 minutes from stumps, he got Daren Powell to loft to mid-off where Muralitharan grasped a stunning, one-handed catch over his head to provide Vaas with his 12th five-wicket hauls in tests.

Vaas, named man of the match, took 8-109 overall and scored a half century. Sri Lanka lost 1-0 on both previous visits to the Caribbean in 1997 and 2003.

Share this Dominica article with your friends:

Facebook Twitter Google Buzz Google Bookmarks Digg Reddit delicious Technorati Slashdot Yahoo My Web

Tagged with: , , , , ,

Related Post




Business Key Top Sites