BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - CRICKET West Indies has further announced the suspension of its regional and international season inlight of the spread of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Caribbean.
The announcement which came yesterday (Mar. 24), confirmed that the Barbados Pride will be the regional four-day champions.
In a media statement, Cricket West Indies announced that the “Barbados Pride have been declared winners of the 2020 West Indies Championship (Four-Day), following a Board of Directors teleconference held this afternoon. Acting upon the advice of the CWI Medical Advisory Committee, a decision was made to cancel the last two rounds of matches in the first-class season due to the COVID-19 pandemic”.
At the end of the last round of the competition, the Pride team was at the top of the standings with 134.8 points with the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force 94.6 points and the Guyana Jaguars third with 91.8 points.
Cricket West Indies announced that with Barbados Pride top of the points table after the eighth round, “the Board unanimously agreed to award the Headley/Weekes Trophy to Barbados (Trophy is named in honour of West Indies pioneers and icons George Headley and Sir Everton Weekes)”.
When it comes to the remainder of the season and scheduled tournaments, Cricket West Indies disclosed the postponement of the Colonial Medical Insurance Women’s Super50 Cup and the Regional Under-19s Women’s T20 Championship until later in the year.
Meanwhile, the Regional Under-15s Boys Championship and the West Indies Under-15s Tour to England in the summer have all been cancelled for this year; and the West Indies High-Performance and International preparation training camps cancelled until at least May 31, 2020.
Following the meeting Johnny Grave, CEO of CWI confirmed: “All around the sporting world we are faced with the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cricket, cricketers and all our stakeholders involved in the game have been affected at various levels and we must continue to work together and act responsibly in containing the spread of the virus.
“Ten days ago, we suspended our tournaments and camps for 30 days and now we have extended that suspension until the end of May as well as reluctantly cancelled some tournaments and tours in their entirety. We will continue to monitor and assess the situation and make further decisions and announcements in due course.”
Grave added that the health and safety of everyone concerned was paramount and noted that CWI has put all systems in place to make sure its staff was observing the necessary protocols as outlined by the CWI Medical Advisory Committee and the World Health Organisation.
CWI has also reinforced the importance for all Territorial Boards and Local Cricket Associations to follow the advice of their respective Ministries of Health.
