West Indies players visit Venezuela (18 Nov 1999)

18th November 1999

West Indies players visit Venezuela

Venezuelan cricket had its brush with fame last week with the visit of four West Indian players to Caracas.

Darren Ganga, Mervyn Dillon, Corey Collymore and Ricardo Powell were in town to film an advertisement for Pepsi.

The 25 year-old Trinidad & Tobago paceman, Dillon, said he wouldn't mind coming back to Caracas to play some cricket.

"I'm happy to go anywhere to play cricket and Venezuela is not that far from Trinidad," Dillon said.

One former West Indian player who did take the field in Caracas on a separate visit was ex- Windies and United States opener Faoud Bacchus.

He smashed centuries on consecutive days against the might of the Caracas Sports Club attack for the Miami Masters on the weekend of November 6-7.

On the Saturday, Bacchus hit 170 in a Miami Masters total of 270 off 35 overs. Mike Palmer led the Caracas reply of 187-8 with 68, receiving support from Basil Mathura (38).

The following day, the Caracas fielders gave Bacchus five chances in his 105, including one before he had got off the mark.

Caracas' reply fell 20 runs short, with A.Gomes (60) and Faisal Mathura (38) the Venezuelan side's best. The home side did not take a catch the entire weekend.

Caracas had squared a two match series against a touring team from Queens Park Oval, Trinidad in August.

There are four clubs in Venezuela - Caracas Sports Club, Maracaibo, Puerto Ordaz and a team from the town of San Felix. The three Caracas clubs consist mainly of expatriate West Indians.