Guyana hosts 14th Nortel West Indies youth tournament (1 Aug 1997)

News Release for immediate release August 1, 1997

GUYANA HOSTS 14th ANNUAL NORTEL WEST INDIES YOUTH CRICKET TOURNAMENT

---Tournament Sponsor, Northern Telecom (Nortel), Renews Pledge to Caribbean Tradition-

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Guyana's Cricket Board hosts this year's annual Nortel West Indies Youth Cricket Tournament to take place August 9-30 at the Bourda cricket grounds, showcasing the Caribbean's best cricket talent under 19. The event is co-sponsored by leading Caribbean telephone operating companies: GT&T-Guyana Telephone & Telegragh, Bartel-Barbados, TOJ-Telecommunications of Jamaica, TSTT-Trinidad and Tobago, BET- Barbados.

Guyana's home team, titleholder for the past five years, welcomes traditional contenders Windward Islands, Barbados, Leeward Islands and Trinidad & Tobago, as well as Jamaica, who shared the championship title in 1994 and 1995.

The Nortel West Indies Youth Tournament is the region's premier youth tournament and the longest sponsorship association at this level. The tournament has benefited Caribbean youth over the years -- more than one hundred have graduated to their respective senior national teams, but more significantly, 23 players have contested on the West Indies Test Team, one of the best in the world.

"Nortel CALA is proud to be part of the development of young cricket players throughout the Caribbean," said Dick Lee, Nortel CALA's vice president, Caribbean Sales. "Our sponsorship of the annual Nortel West Indies Youth Cricket Tournament represents our commitment to Caribbean heritage and the preservation of one of the West Indies favorite pastimes."

The Youth Tournament has served as a breeding ground for Test team stars such as Guyana's Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Carl Hooper; Jamaica's James Adams and Robert Samuels; Trinidad & Tobago's Ian Bishop and Rajindra Dhanraj; Barbados' Sherwin Campbell and Otis Gibson; St. Vincent & The Grenadines' Cameron Cuffy and Ian Allen; Nevis' Stuart Williams and Keith Arthurton; Antigua's Keneth Benjamin and Winston Benjamin, and the double world record holder Brian Lara, also from Trinidad & Tobago. As an added highlight, this year's tournament will be followed by the second annual Nortel All-Stars vs. Nortel Masters exhibition game where a team comprising the best of the tournament's five teams plays a team of leading professional and home players.

Nortel works with customers worldwide to design, build, and integrate digital networks - for information, entertainment, education, and business - offering one of the broadest choices of network solutions in the industry. Nortel had 1996 revenues of $US 12.8 billion and has approximately 68,000 employees worldwide. ### For more information:

Visit Nortel's web-site at https://www.nortel.com