Antigua Makes Solo Bid

ST. JOHN'S - The Antigua Cricket Association Inc. (ACA) have made a formal application to the West Indies Cricket Board Inc. (WICB), for Antigua to participate in the 2000 regional One Day competition - the Red Stripe Bowl - as a separate entity from the Leeward Islands.

President of the ACA, Enoch Lewis confirmed that an application to go solo during the upcoming Red Stripe Bowl competition was currently before the WICB. Lewis said the main reason for this was to expose more players from the Leeward Islands.

Lewis in an interview, pointed to the fact that at present an average of eight players from Antigua now represent the Leeward Islands during regional competitions. The ACA boss feels that if Antigua were to be granted permission to compete as a separate entity in the 2000 Red Stripe Bowl competition, it would mean two things (i) more cricket for the West Indies fans and (ii) more players from the Leewards being exposed at the regional level. This, Lewis said could not be a bad thing for West Indies cricket.

Lewis named the following 13 current and past Antiguan players who would be familiar to regional cricket fans and said it is difficult for all these players to play at once. The players are: Curtly Ambrose, Dave Joseph, Sylvester Joseph, Wilden Cornwall, Anthony Lake, Kenneth Benjamin, Kerry Jeremy, Hamish Anthony, Richie Richardson, Earl Waldron, Ridley Jacobs, Goldwyn Prince and Ricky Christopher.

Antigua last played as a separate entity at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998 with the blessing of the WICB.