Carib Shield for cricket champs in 2004

The Carib Cup has runneth over and will now be called the Carib Shield from next season. This according to Allan Julien of Carib at the season’s launch yesterday at the sponsor’s office at  Champs Fleurs. Julien, the trade marketing manager said: “You may be wondering what is the Carib Shield? Well, it is certainly not a new competition, rather, we have simply changed the name of the very popular limited overs afternoon competition from the Carib Cup to the Carib Shield. “The reason for this is very simple. We have found that since our sponsorship of the four-day West Indies regional competition, the Carib Beer Cup, there is some confusion between the two and when we speak of the Carib Beer Cup, we want to make a clear distinction between the regional sponsorship and the local competitions.”

The Carib Shield is one of three competitions being sponsored by Carib Brewery to the tune of $310,000. “In total our sponsorship will be around $500,000 given the fact that we have to advertise and provide coloured clothing for the players as well as other giveaways,” Julien added. He was filling in for Colin Murray, Carib’s public relations manager who was unavoidably absent due to a pressing company commitment. There will be no increase in the prize money next season with the National League winners getting $35,000, the Carib Sunday League winners pocketing $30,000 and the Carib Shield champions claiming $25,000. The TTCB will spend $125,000 on the National League, $95,000 on the Sunday League and $90,000 for the Carib Shield. Also an added attraction for local fans this year will “live” television coverage of the Carib Sunday League finals.

Dudnath Ramkeesoon, chairman of the National League said he was very happy that Carib have  agreed to sponsor the league for another year and promised quality cricket. Carib had expressed some concerns about the discipline of the players in the league but Ramkeesoon allayed their fears saying that his committee is going to increase their awareness of tardy players and keep them on the right path. He also revealed that all seven matches in the Carib National League will be played as two-day matches. “This experiment worked beautifully last year,” he said. The matches will begin at 10.30 am on each day. The season will bowl off on January 11 with a Sunday League clash at Inshan Ali Park, involving Clico Preysal the defending champions and PowerGen. The league gets going on March 6, while the Shield will begin on May 7.