Brits after Busta

They have already lost the Wisden Trophy and West Indian teams might have to fight next season to keep the Busta Cup from falling into English hands.

WICB executive secretary Andrew Sealy confirmed yesterday that the England "A" team had already been accepted for an expanded Cup, the first time an overseas entry was included in the West Indies' annual first-class tournament.

The WICB will decide at a full meeting in Antigua this weekend whether England "A" will be allowed to compete for the title and, if not, how to still make their matches meaningful, he said.

The executive committee has reportedly proposed that both England "A" and the other ratified new team, the combined West Indies Under-19, compete on the same basis as the six traditional territories, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Trinidad & Tobago and Windward Islands.

Other details of the format have to be determined at the Antigua meeting.

In both its seasons, the Busta Cup has been decided by semifinals and final following the round-robin preliminaries.

There has already been some negative comment to the proposed entry of an England team into the Busta Cup.

They are mainly on the parochial grounds that it would strengthen English but not necessarily West Indian cricket, and that it would allow the English to make an early assessment of the strengths and weakeness of emerging West Indian players.

WICB president Pat Rousseau has countered that young West Indian players need all the competitive international cricket they can get now that fewer and fewer are being employed in county cricket.

There is precedent for an overseas team entering a West Indian tournament with Bermuda, Canada and the United States all participating in the One-Day Red Stripe Bowl over the past two years.

New Zealand once participated in the Australian limited-overs tournament and Holland had a side in England's Benson & Hedges Cup for a few years. But no overseas team has ever competed in the first-class tournament of any Test country.

It is clear that once England "A" is brought into the competition, their matches have to count for points to provide an incentive for them and their opponents.

But the premier West Indies cricket tournament could end up without a West Indies champion.