USVI to host two matches

The islands of St Croix and St Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands will host matches in the West Indies first-class cricket championship for the first time.

The Cancryn Ground in St Thomas and the Drive-In Ground in St Croix will attract matches this year.

"There were huge crowds for the match between Leeward Islands and Windward Islands in Tortola (British Virgin Islands) last year and we felt the Virgin Islands was an untapped resource that we needed to explore," said Carlisle Powell, president of the Leeward Islands Cricket Association (LICA), under whose jurisdiction the Virgin Islands grounds fall.

St Croix will host the third-round match between Guyana and West Indies "B" from February 14 to 17.

St Thomas will stage the contest between Leewards and Trinidad and Tobago in the last round of the preliminary competition exactly a month later.

Salem Park in Olveston, the new capital of volcano-ravaged Montserrat, another LICA jurisdiction, will also host its inaugural first-class match: West Indies "B" v Leewards from February 28 to March 3.

Two years ago, the ground hosted a limited-overs match between the University of the West Indies Vice-Chancellor's XI and South Africa.

The National Cricket Centre in Couva, Trinidad, will host the second-round game between Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies "B" from February 7 to 10.