Fruta night cricket going regional

PLANS are underway to make the popular Fruta Twenty/20 night cricket festival  a regional competition. However, according to Anthony Harford of All Sport Promotions, organisers of the tournament, the realisation of this dream may be another two years away. He made the revelation at yesterday’s launch of this year’s third annual competition which gets underway on Wednesday, May 12 at the Ato Boldon Stadium at Balmain, Couva. The media conference to launch the competition was staged at SM Jaleel, Biljah Road, Charlieville and in attendance were Anna Mohammed, Vice-President of Marketing at SM Jaleel; Allison Luke, Fruta’s Product Manager; and Camal Basdeo, Technical Director of the tournament.

This year there will be one change in the format with the eight teams involved playing over 20 overs an innings instead of the traditional 15. Harford explained that the new format is in keeping with international trends and he hopes that the success of the Twenty/20 competition in England will filter down and transulate into sizeable crowds here. Another addition is the inclusion of a University of the West Indies team which he said is a sign of the encouraging mix of sports and academics as at least six National League players will be on the St Augustine Campus team. Harford also announced that there will be an increase in prize money with the winners collecting $20,000 from an increased budget of $50,000 with hampers at stake each night for lucky patrons in addition to complimentary Fruta drinks.

On the night of the final, a talented spectator will bid for a $10,000 jackpot in a “Bowling for $$” competition, said Harford. It was also announced yesterday that the tournament will also assist former national fast bowler Eugene Antoine whose benefit year runs until July. As part of the promise to the Clico Preysal player, All Sports Promotions and Fruta will donate the gate receipts of the May 28 matches to him as well as gifts from other sponsors. Harford said the target for Antoine is $20,000 with two other events planned — a double wicket tournament on June 13 and a dinner in July to reward Antoine who has contributed to the game for 15 continuous years. Clico Preysal are the defending champions, winning the tournament since its inception and will be after a hat-trick this year.

The competition will be in two groups: Group One — Clico Preysal, Queen’s Park, W-Connection Wanderers, Flavorite Las Lomas; Group Two — FCB Clarke Road, PowerGen, Monroe Road, UWI. Technical Director Basdeo said yesterday there will be eight nights of cricket with the first six for the preliminaries, one for the semi-finals with the final carded for June 11. All matches start on 6 pm and will be of 80-minutes duration. Basdeo said that no reserve days have been allocated and in the event of weather affecting matches, one point will be given to the teams.

Product Manager Luke said Fruta were extremely pleased to be associated once again with the tournament as SM Jaleel continue to be involved in sports in the region. Among the ventures are the recent Windward Islands youth tournament staged in Trinidad; the NGC Right on Track athletics caravan; Friendly Hall volleyball in Barbados and the Fruta Conquerors team sponsorship in Guyana. And Anna Mohammed gave a commitment to the support of night cricket which she described as “exciting” and has the potential to attract large after-work crowds.