12 WI greats for Sticky Wicket

ST JOHN’S, Antigua:  The Sticky Wicket Restaurant is inducting 12 regional cricket icons into a West Indies Hall of Fame this evening.

Current West Indies captain Brian Lara forces his way into the list of inductees as the only present day player and the list includes cricketing knights Sir Garfield Sobers, widely regarded as the world’s greatest cricketer ever, Sir Everton Weekes, and Sir Vivian Richards. The function at the Sticky Wicket Restaurant, adjacent to the Stanford Cricket Grounds near the airport, will also induct Clive Lloyd, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Malcolm Marshall, Lance Gibbs, Andy Roberts, George Headley, and Michael Holding.

A dozen bronze sculptures of the honourees will be unveiled and bronze plaques containing the biographical and career information of each cricketer will accompany each sculpture. The honourees or a family member will also receive a plaque. Some experts have observed the omission of Sir Frank Worrell and Sir Clyde Walcott, but organisers Sticky Wicket said the first 12 were chosen by the votes of fans through a newspaper and Internet balloting. Allen Stanford, the American investor and financier who is funding the Hall of Fame through his Stanford Development Company, will preside at the ceremony. Stanford said he is looking forward to “meeting these top cricket legends” to “pay homage to their accomplishment.”