RBTT Frontrunner to Replace Red Stripe

Wed, Aug 25, '04

 

EXCLUSIVE:

Trinidad & Tobago-based RBTT Financial has emerged as the frontrunner to replace Red Stripe as the title sponsor of the West Indies regional one-day competition.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is in the final stages of negotiations with RBTT to bankroll this year's revamped tournament, which will be played in three stages in Guyana, Grenada and Barbados.

The RBTT Financial Group includes RBTT Merchant Bank Limited, RBTT Trust Limited and ten commercial banks and branches scattered throughout the English-speaking Caribbean. The company's shares are listed on the Stock Exchanges of Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica.

A new sponsor means that for the first time since 1997, one of the two preliminary rounds and both semi-finals and final will not be played in Jamaica, where Red Stripe is based. Red Stripe had made that a key requirement for its continued sponsorship.

CaribbeanCricket.com has learnt that this year's tournament will see all six teams in one venue playing each other once (15 games). The tournament will then shift to another venue, where all the teams will again play each other once (15 games).

The first leg, which starts on October 8, is slated for Guyana. Grenada gets to host the second leg before the tournament shifts to Barbados for the Final Four (two semis and the final). The final is slated for October 31.

A minimum of three grounds in Guyana and Grenada will be used.

In Grenada, the new Queen's Park stadium is not available because work is being done to prepare the outfield for World Cup 2007 (and damage from the rainy Carnival celebrations left the outfield in a mess).

With Queen's Park unavailable, the WICB is likely to use the Tanteen Recreation Ground in St George's (which has hosted FC games in the past); La Sagesse in St David's and Victoria Park in Grenville. Fond Pasture in St Patrick's is another Grenada venue that could be considered. A decade ago, these grounds were all used for the Nortel Under-19 cricket tournament hosted by Grenada.

In Guyana, the GCC (Bourda) ground in Georgetown is an obvious choice along with the usual FC facilities at Everest, Enmore, Uitvlugt, Albion, Blairmont and Hampton Court.

The WICB is fine-tuning the itinerary, which is expected to be released by the end of this week.