KFC competition making positive contribution to West Indies cricket
By Colin Croft
Stabroek News
February 14, 2007
Perhaps the greatest irony of all is that in 2007, the year of the ICC Cricket World Cup one-day competition, to be held in the Caribbean, it is the regional one-day series, the KFC Cup competition, that will be used, right down to the wire, to prepare the region's players for the "big dance" which starts on March 05 and ends on April 28.
Some may say that the scheduling is perfect, since four and five-day games could not really prepare players and a team for one-day games.
That much-maligned body, the West Indies Cricket Board, should at least be pleased.
By the time the KFC Cup is fully completed, in St. Vincent, the players involved in the final set of games would only be three weeks away from the real start of the ICC CWC 2007.
They should be quite sharp!
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the Board for Cricket in India (BCCI) even tried to help each other out with four additional one-day games, late in January 2007 that would have helped the teams, especially the West Indies, to prepare for the ICC CWC 2007.
Had these games not been hastily scheduled by the two cricket boards, the West Indies cricket team would have had to have gone nearly two-and-a-half months without any one-day cricket at all.
The "Final Four" set of games in the 2007 KFC Cup series, to be played at the Arnos Vale playing field in St. Vincent, were, ages ago, scheduled for the third week of February 2007.
Regardless as to which team eventually wins in its efforts to unseat the 2006 KFC Cup Champions, Guyana, what is excellent for the players is that many of them, from the four remaining teams, will have gotten another wonderful chance to further enhance their chances to be selected for the ICC CWC 2007. What great timing!
The 2005 KFC Cup ended in some controversy. In extremely dark conditions, at the Bourda Stadium in Guyana, Barbados, and the team fielding last, actually had problems seeing the white ball in the gloom.
Somehow, the hosts, Guyana, managed to use bat-like radars to actually find and hit the ball around the park enough in the gloom to eventually come out winners.
While there was bitter disappointment for the Barbadians, it was an incredible win, for Guyana. Guyana certainly will not give up their 2005 KFC Cup triumph without a fight.
These two teams are again in the mix, continuing the fight for regional one-day supremacy.
In 2006, Trinidad & Tobago won both of the regional four and five-day competitions.
In 2007, they too have worked hard to maintain their form and success in those. However, additionally, the men from Carnival Country have been the ones setting the pace in the KFC Cup competition, having won all their preliminary matches.
They were assured of a place in the "Final Four" even before the final round of games had been completed.
The KFC Cup 2007 has become such a very vital link for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 that one not only expected that all of the West Indies Cricket Board's selectors; Andy Roberts, Clyde Butts and Gordon Greenidge; along with West Indies team coach Bennett King would have been in attendance for the finals in St. Vincent, but that the WICB themselves would have been interested in using the "Final Four" series to further enhance the final, ultimate preparations for the massive ICC Cricket World Cup 2007.
Whatever happens in the ICC CWC 2007, the KFC Cup will have served its wonderful purposes, especially in this year when the eyes of the rest of the world will be set on us.
Many years ago, the one-day format was introduced in the Caribbean with the competition being sponsored, firstly, by a tobacco producing company, then, more recently, by companies associated with petroleum.
That the regional one-day competition has now been sponsored by a food, beverage and services conglomerate, Prestige Holdings, is also opportune, since the Caribbean has, if it was not that in the past, certainly become the place to be in 2007. Many types of important services will be required as we host the world on our doorsteps for about six to eight weeks.
The KFC Cup competition has made a definite positive contribution to our cricket in the very recent past, and as the Caribbean continues its preparation for the ICC CWC 2007, and especially the players continue their efforts to be involved in that massive competition, the KFC Cup competition certainly takes centre stage.
While it does matter to the respective teams as to whether they qualify, or not, for the "Final Four", or if indeed, which one of them will win the KFC Cup 2007 series overall, it is the more expansive West Indies cricket fraternity that would have benefited fully from the input of these wonderful sponsors and the wonderful cricket for which they hope.