West Indies Local: Cup full of hope

Like the last few regional first-class seasons, the 2000 Busta Cup, starting tomorrow, will serve four main purposes.

In the aftermath of the disappointing tour of New Zealand, it presents those who did not live up to expectations the chance the re-establish themselves when they return from the third round.

It also presents the new, young potential the platform to press for further elevation at a time when there seems to be a dearth of talent.

It also presents the chance for those who were recently discarded to come back into the reckoning.

Finally, the tournament will crown the first champions of the new millennium.

The format is similar to last seasons inaugural Busta Cup in which there were five preliminary matches leading up to the semifinals and final.

The main change for the first time in recent years is that the itinerary finally seems to be satisfactory, the tournament running for eight consecutive weekends and without the lengthy interruptions that everyone complained of since 1996.

Whenever the leading players have been unavailable, Barbados always dominate as was the case in 1995, 1997 and 1999 when they emerged as champions.

With the New Zealand tour preventing the West Indies players from appearing in the first two matches, Barbados will again search for an early advantage.

Their captain Philo Wallace, Roland Holder and Floyd Reifer are all seasoned batsmen with decent records at this level and Courtney Browne was flawless behind the stumps last season.

Their bowling, however, appears to less potent than in recent seasons with the retirement of reliable left-arm spinner Winston Reid and the early absence of Pedro Collins and Corey Collymore, whose troublesome back contiunes to hamper his rapid development.

Barbados will also miss Ryan Hinds for the first few matches when he will be leading the West Indies Under-19s at the Youth World Cup in Sri Lanka, but another former West Indies youth captain, Ian Bradshaw, finally seems set to fulfil the all-round potential he showed as a teenager.

Trinidad and Tobago, runners-up last season, are heavily depleted with four of their own in New Zealand, the retirements of little wicket-keeper David Williams and fast bowler Ian Bishop and Phil Simmons professional duties in South Africa.

It means that Lincoln Roberts and Denis Rampersad, mid-20s batsmen who performed creditably last season, have more responsibility along with the experienced Suruj Ragoonath.

Guyana and Jamaica, unsuccessful semifinalists last year, have blooded a host of youngsters during the last few seasons. Of the Guyanese, only fast bowler Reon King and, to a lesser extent, leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo, have progressed.

Gone nowhere

Ramnaresh Sarwan, Nicholas deGroot, Vishal Nagamootoo, Andre Percival, Travis Dowlin and Azeemul Haniff, however, have gone nowhere although left-handed opener Haniff made the best of his chance towards the end of the series against India A late last year.

Carl Hooper says he will be back to help his young troops of whom the most promising appears to the gifted left-hander Narsingh Deonarine, scorer of a half-century on his first-class debut at the age of 16 against the Indians.

Jamaica have witnessed the advancement of their young batsmen Ricardo Powell, Wavell Hinds and Chris Gayle, but they will want give a reminder of their potential since Powell failed in his only Test in New Zealand, Hinds did not play and Gayle was not picked at all.

Dashing opener Leon Garrick is given another chance in spite of failures over the last few seasons, but two experienced batsmen could prove pivotal.

Just when Robert Samuels seemed to have lost his appetite for runs at this level, he responded with a match-winning unbeaten half-century in the Red Stripe Bowl final last November, and his former long-time opening partner Delroy Morgan is recalled after a few seasons in the wilderness.

Jamaica did unearth one of the most exciting pace prospects last season, the 21-year-old Dwight Mais who former Barbados and West Indies fast bowler Richard Edwards identified as a Test candidate after watching him for only a few overs last season.

Another fast bowler of high quality on the horizon is Goldwyn Prince, the 25-year-old Antiguan who gained instant recognition with a call-up to the West Indies A team after only a handful of appearances in the Red Stripe Bowl.

Prince, however, will be sidelined for the opening match with an injury.

Even so, the Leeward Islands appear to have the best chance of dethroning the champions.

Only wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs is on West Indies duty and Curtly Ambrose returns to prove his form and fitness ahead of international engagements against Zimbabwe and Pakistan.

The Leewards batting is as strong as any with captain Stuart Williams, Keith Arthurton, Dave Joseph and Sylvester Joseph occupying places among the top five.

Windward Islands have struggled for the last decade in spite of the presence of West Indies representatives Junior Murray, Rawl Lewis and Nixon McLean.

Judging from the reports emerging on the standard of play in the their last domestic tournament, it's unlikely that they will land a place in the semifinals.

Under the sponsorship of Trinidadian soft drink manufacturers, S.M. Jaleel and Company for the second successive year, the tournament will feature increased prize money and new incentives for batsmen scoring centuries and bowlers capturing 10 wickets in a match.

In a bold move, children under the age of 18 and women accompanying them will gain free admission to all matches.

At a time when attendances at regional matches have been on the decline, its a welcome move.

We await the first ball.