Windward making mark

The hosting of the first ever first-class cricket match at Windward Cricket Club at Lucas Street, St. Philip, could be considered an early 80th anniversary celebration.

The club, founded in 1921, will be celebrating its 80th anniversary next year, and the staging of the match between South Africa 'A' and Barbados is a reflection of the hard work which has gone into developing the facilities.

The formation of the club at its original Congo Road home (a couple of miles away) was an opportunity for many of those associated with the sugar industry at that time to develop closer social ties.

According to Anthony Bryan, club president since 1991, that camaraderie and family atmosphere still exist.

'Members now come from all walks of life. It is still a closely-knit family situation with family members coming out and supporting the players on weekends.'

A change of ownership of the land resulted in the club getting the opportunity to purchase the present six-acre property at Lucas Street, and in 1969, Windward moved there.

Bryan said that originally Windward only played cricket but, towards the latter days at Congo Road, hockey and football were introduced.

Tennis courts were built at Lucas Street in the mid-70s.

'We competed in local competitions in hockey and football until the early 90s when we found it difficult to find sufficient members interested in playing hockey and football on a regular basis,' Bryan said.

Since around 1950, Windward has competed in domestic cricket and currently has an Intermediate and a Division 2 team.

There was some success for the club immediately after moving to Lucas Street but since then, though being quite competitive, Windward has not won a cricket title.

Despite this, the club has been making a significant contribution to the development of cricket through its coaching programme, which is co-ordinated by Charles Thornton.

'Our youth programme has been active for the past four years. Every Saturday, members coach for about three hours,' Bryan said.

The president said the cricket programme was an extension of the coaching programme, which originally only involved tennis, a sport at which Windward has been very successful. The tennis programme is conducted by Richard Marshall.

Three products of the Windward coaching programme 'Carleon Broome, Mark Edghill and Raymond Thornton ' were selected to represent Barbados in Under-13 cricket last year.

The club is also involved in drama and produces an annual play which is the major fund-raising activity.

Windward has improved the grounds over the years, even before any thought was given to hosting first-class cricket.

Two concrete practice pitches were installed on the north-western side and two sight screens built.

'The soil is a heavy clay soil which tends to crack when it is dry,' Bryan said.

'We attempted to change the texture to a more loamy type by spreading sand on the surface of the field. That helps to reduce the cracking and it makes the field more level.'

A hedge and trees were planted to improve the ambience.

Since the issue of first-class cricket arose about two years ago, efforts to improve the facility intensified.

'We levelled the square, brought in soil and planted grass.

The visitors' dressing room was expanded to double the previous size and new bathrooms were installed for the public.

'Having reached this stage, we would not want to turn back. We are happy so far that we have been considered and we wish to continue to improve our facilities.

'We have to look at seating for the public, security and a better scoreboard,' Bryan said.