Carib Series winners to get US$15,000

WINNERS of the West Indies Cricket Board 2005 Carib Beer Series will receive US$15,000, while the runners-up will collect US$12,500. The 10-round round robin tournament which will be brought into operation from next year, will see teams playing five matches at home and another five away. The new format caters for the Carib Beer League and the Carib Beer Challenge competitions. This will provide the opportunity for teams to be crowned champion for one or both competitions. The Carib Beer Challenge will be decided between the two leading teams at the end of the 10-round series. Winners of the Challenge will receive US$5,000. But any of the six teams who manage to score the double will pocket US$20,000.

But there is a strong stipulation which states that the second-placed team in the Carib Beer Series can only win the Carib Beer Challenge by beating the League winners outright in a game that will be contested over five days. The 2005 Carib Beer Series will be contested by defending champion Barbados, runners-up Jamaica, Guyana, Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago and Windward  Islands. Because of the new format and a chance to allow the six traditional teams to vie for supremacy, there will be no international competition in the next year’s regional first class competitions. First round of action starts on January 7 with three matches. Trinidad and Tobago begin their challenge against Guyana at the National Cricket Centre, Balmain, Couva.