University of the West Indies cricket team

Last updated
University of the West Indies
Coat of arms of the University of the West Indies.png
Personnel
Captain Dave Cumberbatch (2002)
Philo Wallace (2003)
Team information
Foundedlate 1940s
Home ground Sir Frank Worrell Cricket Ground (Jamaica), Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground (Trinidad), 3Ws Oval (Barbados)

A cricket team representing the University of the West Indies (UWI) played several matches in West Indian domestic cricket during the early 2000s, and currently plays at lower levels.

Contents

The university's cricket team has been active since the school's foundation in 1948, and from the 1970s regularly played against touring international teams. With the backing of the university's Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor Hilary Beckles, the university established a Centre for Cricket Research in 1994, and subsequently upgraded facilities at each of its three campuses, in Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. Again largely due to Beckles' involvement, UWI's team was invited to compete in the 2002–03 and 2003–04 editions of the Red Stripe Bowl, West Indian cricket's domestic limited-overs competition. The team won only one match in two seasons, and was subsequently dropped from the competition. However, prior to the 2007–08 season the university was involved in the establishment of a Combined Campuses and Colleges team, which effectively continues UWI's prior role in West Indian domestic cricket. Grounds at three of the university's campuses—the Sir Frank Worrell Cricket Ground in Mona, Jamaica; the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground in St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago; and the 3Ws Oval in Cave Hill, Barbados—have been used for first-class matches.

History

Early years

The 3Ws Oval (entrance pictured), named after Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Clyde Walcott, and Sir Everton Weekes, is located on the university's campus in Cave Hill, Barbados, and often hosts university matches. Entrance to 3Ws Oval, Cave Hill Campus.jpg
The 3Ws Oval (entrance pictured), named after Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Clyde Walcott, and Sir Everton Weekes, is located on the university's campus in Cave Hill, Barbados, and often hosts university matches.

The university was founded as the University College of the West Indies (UCWI) in 1948, originally serving as a constituent college of the University of London. With its main campus in Mona, Jamaica, the university gained academic independence in 1962, with new campuses having been established in St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago (1960), and Cave Hill, Barbados (1963). The sport of cricket was played at the school from the beginning, and the university's team participated in the Senior Cup, the main club cricket tournament in Jamaica. Participation in the sport was encouraged by Sir Frank Worrell, who was a member of the UWI's staff after his retirement from playing, and Professor Gladstone Mills, who was chairman of the university's Sports Advisory Committee. [1] At the behest of Mills, in early 1971 the West Indies Cricket Board of Control (WICBC) arranged for the touring New Zealand national cricket team to play a tour match against the university. [2] This trend of visiting teams playing the university continued throughout the 1970s, with matches against India and Australia occurring later in the decade. [3] However, these matches soon ceased, and from the early 1980s cricket matches were usually only played within the university. [1] It was not until the late 1990s and the early 2000s that UWI began to again play a role in West Indian cricket. [2] Led by the university's Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor Hilary Beckles, a Centre for Cricket Research was established at the Cave Hill campus in 1994, which resulted in the refurbishment of the on-campus 3Ws Oval. Two years later, in 1996, Beckles convinced what was now the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to organise a match between the touring New Zealanders and a University of the West Indies Vice Chancellor's XI. [1] Matches between touring sides and the Vice Chancellor's XI have since become a regular, almost annual, event. [4] [5]

Domestic competition

In July 2002, the WICB announced that the University of the West Indies would field a team in 2002–03 Red Stripe Bowl, the premier limited-overs competition in the West Indies. [6] The inclusion of new teams was driven by former international player Wes Hall, the WICB's president at the time, who wished to strengthen the development of West Indian players outside of the usual regions. [7] UWI's participation was largely a result of the efforts of Hilary Beckles, who had previously authored several texts on the history of West Indies cricket. [8] Prior to its debut, the university gained the sponsorship of the Sagicor Financial Corporation, a Barbados-based firm. [9] The team debuted in the competition in August 2002, in a match against Saint Vincent and the Grenadines at the Old Harbour Road ground in Port Esquivel, Jamaica. [10] Although Saint Vincent had been pre-match favourites, UWI scored 269/7 and then restricted their opponents to 244/9, winning the match by 25 runs. UWI's team had included nine debutants to Saint Vincent's one, with only captain Dave Cumberbatch and wicket-keeper Andre Coley having played in the competition previously. [11]

Placed in "Zone A" of the competition, alongside Saint Vincent, Barbados, Jamaica, and a "Rest of Leeward Islands" team, UWI lost each of its remaining three matches to finish in last place in its zone. [12] These fixtures comprised a 102–run loss to Barbados, a nine-wicket loss to Rest of Leeward Islands, and a ten-wicket loss to Jamaica. [13] Despite these losses, the university was kept in the competition for the following season. The team gained former West Indian international player Philo Wallace for the 2003–04 competition, as well as two other players with previous experience, prompting one commentator to predict that UWI would be the Bowl's "most improved team". [14] Placed in "Zone B", with Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, and the West Indies under-19s, UWI lost three matches, with the other abandoned due to rain interruption. [15] The university scored over 150 runs only once, against the under-19s team, and only one batsman, Shawn Graham, managed to score a half-century. [16] Due to the overall lack of competition provided by UWI and the other newly introduced teams, the WICB announced in July 2004 that the Red Stripe Bowl would revert to the traditional six-team format. [17] A list of matches the team played during its two seasons in the competition is given below:

DateTeam batting firstTeam batting secondResultGroundRef
114 August 2002University of the West Indies 7/269 (50 overs) St. Vincent and the Grenadines 9/244 (50 overs)University of the West Indies won by 25 runs Old Harbour Road Cricket Ground [11]
216 August 2002 Barbados 2/284 (50 overs)University of the West Indies 182 (41.4 overs)Barbados won by 102 runs Chedwin Park [18]
320 August 2002University of the West Indies 140 (49.3 overs) Rest of Leeward Islands 1/141 (24 overs)Rest of Leeward Islands won by 9 wickets Sir Frank Worrell Cricket Ground [19]
422 August 2002University of the West Indies 112 (38.3 overs) Jamaica 0/115 (16.2 overs)Jamaica won by 10 wickets Alpart Sports Club Ground [20]
52 October 2003University of the West Indies 6/258 (50 overs) Barbados 3/176 (26.2 overs)Barbados won by 7 wickets (D/L) Antigua Recreation Ground [21]
64 October 2003 Guyana 2/284 (50 overs)University of the West Indies 144 (40.5 overs)Guyana won by 114 runs Antigua Recreation Ground [22]
77 October 2003University of the West Indies 165 (42 overs) West Indies Under-19s 3/166 (33.4 overs)West Indies Under-19s won by 7 wickets Antigua Recreation Ground [23]
89 October 2003 Antigua and Barbuda University of the West IndiesMatch abandoned Antigua Recreation Ground [24]

Recent years

Although UWI no longer had List A status, the university continued to play a large role in West Indian cricket from the mid-2000s onward. Grounds at the Cave Hill and St. Augustine campuses were used for warm-up matches at the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup, and continue to be used occasionally for domestic matches. [1] From the 2007–08 season onwards, UWI combined with other Caribbean universities to form the Combined Campuses and Colleges, which participates in domestic first-class, List A, and Twenty20 matches. [25] However, the majority of the team's players attend UWI campuses. The demand for players has necessitated the introduction of cricket scholarships for players from other islands. [26] In the late 2000s, the university's team was admitted into the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA), and has won four consecutive league titles from the 2009 season. [27] [28] In May 2010, the West Indies High Performance Centre, based at the Cave Hill Campus, was opened by the WICB, which the board's president, Julian Hunte, described as "a very significant step forward in the future development of cricket in the Caribbean". [29] Later that year, the university's team participated as "special guests" at the American College Cricket Spring Break Championship, held in Florida. [26]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Worrell</span> West Indian cricketer (1924–1967)

Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell, sometimes referred to by his nickname of Tae, was a West Indies cricketer and Jamaican senator. A stylish right-handed batsman and useful left-arm seam bowler, he became famous in the 1950s as the second black captain of the West Indies cricket team. Along with Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott, he formed what was known as "The Three Ws" of the West Indian cricket. He was the first of the two batsmen to have been involved in two 500-run partnerships in first-class cricket, the latter being Ravindra Jadeja.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of the West Indies</span> International university in the Caribbean

The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos Islands. Each country is either a member of the Commonwealth of Nations or a British Overseas Territory. The aim of the university is to help "unlock the potential for economic and cultural growth" in the West Indies, thus allowing improved regional autonomy. The university was originally instituted as an independent external college of the University of London.

The Regional Four Day Competition, formerly known as the Shell Shield, Red Stripe, Busta and Carib Beer Cup, is the West Indies's first-class cricket competition that's run by Cricket West Indies. In the 2013–2014 season the winner of the tournament was awarded the WICB President's Trophy while the winners of the knockout competition were awarded the George Headley/Everton Weekes trophy. In a few previous seasons the winners of the tournament were awarded the Headley/Weekes trophy. On from the 2016–17 season, the Competition was sponsored by Digicel and was known as the Digicel Four Day Championship. Since 2019–20, the competition has been renamed as the West Indies Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super50 Cup</span>

The Super50 Cup, currently named the CG Insurance Super50 Cup for sponsorship purposes is the domestic one-day cricket competition in the West Indies. It was previously known as the KFC Cup until the fast food chain pulled out of sponsorship in 2008 and the WICB Cup until 2011. Afterwards it was known the Regional Super50 until 2014 when NAGICO Insurance became the title sponsor and it became the NAGICO Regional Super50 until 2021. In recent years it has been run in a condensed format with the group stage taking place over approximately two to three weeks, immediately followed by the knock-out stages. Trinidad and Tobago have won the most titles – 12, including one shared).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cricket West Indies</span> Governing body for cricket in the West Indies

Cricket West Indies (CWI) is the governing body for cricket in the West Indies. It was originally formed in the early 1920s as the West Indies Cricket Board of Control, but changed its name to West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) in 1996. In November 2015, the Board resolved to rename itself as Cricket West Indies as part of a restructuring exercise that would also see the creation of a separate commercial body. This rebranding formally occurred in May 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilary Beckles</span> Barbadian historian (born 1955)

Sir Hilary McDonald Beckles KA is a Barbadian historian. He is the current vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission.

Alexander Kenneth Lindsay Glegg is a Canadian former cricketer. He represented the Canadian national side in several competitions during the 1990s.

The West Indies High Performance Centre is a cricket academy and training centre based at the 3Ws Oval on the Cave Hill, Barbados, campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI). The centre was initially sponsored by the Sagicor Financial Corporation, and known as the Sagicor High Performance Centre.

The 2000–01 Red Stripe Bowl was the 27th season of what is now the Regional Super50, the domestic limited-overs cricket competition for the countries of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). It ran from 11 to 22 October 2000.

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The 2001–02 Red Stripe Bowl was the 28th season of what is now the Regional Super50, the domestic limited-overs cricket competition for the countries of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). It ran from 2 to 14 October 2001, with matches played in Guyana and Jamaica.

The 1997–98 Red Stripe Bowl was the 24th edition of what is now the Regional Super50, the domestic limited-overs cricket competition for the countries of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). It ran from 4 to 20 October 1997, and was the first edition to bear that name.

The 1998–99 Red Stripe Bowl was the 25th season of what is now the Regional Super50, the domestic limited-overs cricket competition for the countries of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). It ran from 6 to 19 October 1998.

The 2002–03 Red Stripe Bowl was the 29th edition of what is now the Regional Super50, the domestic limited-overs cricket competition for the countries of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). It ran from 14 August to 1 September 2002, with matches played in Jamaica and Saint Lucia.

The 2007–08 KFC Cup was the 34th edition of the Regional Super50, the domestic limited-overs cricket competition for the countries of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). The competition was played between 16 and 28 October 2007, with the group stage hosted by Guyana and the play-offs hosted by Barbados.

The 2003–04 Red Stripe Bowl was the 30th edition of what is now the Regional Super50, the domestic limited-overs cricket competition for the countries of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). It ran from 1 to 19 October 2003, with matches played in Antigua and Barbuda and Jamaica.

The 2000–01 Busta Cup was the 35th edition of what is now the Regional Four Day Competition, the domestic first-class cricket competition for the countries of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). It was played from 4 January to 19 February 2001.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 VC Viewpoint: Symbols of the West Indian SpiritThe Pelican. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  2. 1 2 Beckles, Hilary (1999). "Appendix IV: UWI and WICB Joint Press Release Inaugurating the Vice Chancellor's XI Match". The Development of West Indies Cricket, Vol. 1: The Age of Globalization. p. 156. Originally published by Pluto Press, 1999.
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  22. Guyana v University of the West Indies, Red Stripe Bowl 2003/04 (Zone B) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  23. University of the West Indies v West Indies Under-19s, Red Stripe Bowl 2003/04 (Zone B) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
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  28. CHILL Cover Article : Cricket Rebirth – The University of the West Indies. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  29. Fifteen players for WI Cricket high performance center – WI Cric News. Published 29 May 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2013.