Guyana start 1-day defence October 19

ST JOHN’S: The West Indies limited overs cricket championship will be played over one preliminary round instead of two, and a bonus points system will be introduced, a top official said on Saturday. Hurricane Ivan’s devastation forced the cancellation of a planned October 18-31 second round in Grenada, said Teddy Griffith, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). Ivan badly damaged Grenada’s stadium, like most other structures in the country.

Guyana will now host the lone preliminary competition from October 16, while Barbados will stage the final four from October 28-31, Griffith told a news conference. He said an extra day would be added to the final if the weather causes disruptions. Defending champions Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica, the Leeward Islands, the Windward Islands and Trinidad and Tobago will compete in the tournament. Griffith said the board opted to award bonus points and scrap a system that awarded a point for teams that don’t win. Four points will be awarded for a victory, two for a tie and one point for a no-result, he said.

The bonus points system was introduced to avoid delays and “to make the tournament more exciting,” Griffith said. He said a team would claim a bonus point if it scores at a “run rate that is at least 1.25 times that of the opposition.” The bowling team can get a bonus point for dismissing the opposition batting second within four-fifths of the target. A winning team can win a bonus point for doubling the opposition’s scoring rate, Griffith said. “This feature has been introduced to maintain a high level of interest to the end of the match,” he said. He stated that 20 overs per side, rather than 25, would constitute a match if there are disruptions due to weather.

Fixtures: October 16: Jamaica vs Windwards, Bourda; Trinidad and Tobago vs Barbados, Enmore.
October 17: Jamaica vs Leewards, Uitvlugt; Windwards vs Guyana, Hampton Court.
October 18: Barbados vs Leewards, Enmore.
October 19 Trinidad and Tobago vs Guyana, Albion.
October 20 Barbados vs Windwards, Uitvlugt; Leewards vs Guyana, Albion.
October 21 Windwards vs Leewards, Blairmont; Trinidad and Tobago vs Jamaica, Bourda.
October 22: Jamaica vs Barbados, Uitvlugt.
October 23: Guyana vs Barbados, Bourda; Windwards vs Trinidad and Tobago, Enmore.
October 24: Guyana vs Jamaica, Bourda; Leewards vs Trinidad and Tobago, Uitvlugt.
Final Four in Barbados: October 28: First semi-final.
October 29: Second semi-final.
October 31:  Final.
November 1: Reserve day.