Bowl for Leewards

The Leeward Islands narrowly pipped Barbados in the bid to host a zone in this year's Red Stripe Bowl regional One-Day competition.

Speaking to NATIONSPORT yesterday, West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) executive secretary Andrew Sealy said Barbados was in the running to host a zone but that the Leeward Islands was the preferred territory.

Tony Marshall, president of the Barbados Cricket Association, earlier this year announced that Barbados would host a zone.

Since then it was finalised that Jamaica would host one zone and Antigua and Anguilla the other.

"It was a possibility," Sealy said yesterday from the WICB office in Antigua, referring to Barbados' bid.

"It was certainly on the cards but following negotiations we settled for the Leewards."

Asked if Barbados' non-selection had anything to do with the island's recent hosting of the Nortel Networks Under-19 tournament, Sealy said: "No", noting that the three-day and One-Day competitions were excellently staged and the WICB was pleased with the outcome.

Barbados will compete in the Leewards Islands zone, where matches will be held at the Antigua Recreation Ground and the scenic Ronald Webster Park in Anguilla.

The competition bowls off on October 27, and the semifinals and final will be staged at Kaiser Oval on Jamaica's north coast from November 5-7.

Since the inception in 1997, Jamaica has always hosted a preliminary zone along with the semifinals and final, while Guyna also hosted a preliminary zone.

Sealy stopped short of giving any further details of the competition, saying that more would be announced at a Press conference in Jamaica today.

He noted the competition was planned to have the region's best players on show.