An opportunity to watch the two West Indies Cricket Board Regional 4-day semi-final matches through enhanced webcasts was announced on Friday by the West Indies Cricket Board. This opportunity may be of interest for those in Canada with limited experience of seeing the longer forms of first class cricket as well as those with general interest in cricket, not forgetting die-hard association with West Indies cricket or one of the countries within that region. A forum that has proved highly significant for many of the world’s leading players.
The two semi-finals see Barbados host Jamaica at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown while Trinidad and Tobago host the Windward Islands at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain. Both games are scheduled to being at 10am on today (Saturday April 19, 2014) and continue through Tuesday or earlier if a team gains an outright win.
The WICB Media Release states: “Viewers around the World will be able to enjoy multi-camera coverage of the matches on the West Indies Cricket Board’s website www.windiescricket.com.”
Background to the WICB 4-day Regional Round Robin Standings
Barbados topped the round-robin standings with a playing record of 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss that, with batting and bowling bonus points, yielded 82 points. Trinidad &Tobagao also had 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss but ended on 80 points. Barbados gained an extra bonus point for both batting and bowling than T&T, and won the WICB President’s Trophy for first place in the standings.
The Windward Islands won 3, drew 1 and lost two games, ending on 65 points while Jamaica won 3, lost 3 and ended on 59 points.
The three teams that failed to qualify for the semi-finals were: Combined Campuses and Colleges (won 2, lost 3, drew 1 and gained 49 points); Leeward Islands (won 2, lost 4 and registered 42 points); and Guyana (lost 4, drew 2 and gained 29 points).
Significantly Enhanced Webcast Coverage than in Previous Years
WICB Marketing & Communications Manager Imran Khan said the introduction of multi-camera coverage ” will certainly enhance the online webcasts significantly from the single-camera operation which we have employed during the preliminary rounds and in previous years.”
“We will now have multi-camera productions from Barbados and Trinidad respectively, and we trust that fans will log on and enjoy the coverage and share the information with their friends and colleagues.”
Both webcasts will include match commentary. The webcast from the game in Barbados will use the “live” ball-by-ball radio feed from the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation. It will also feature of replays and built-in graphics. “A small team of presenters, including West Indies fast bowling legend Colin Croft, has been assembled for the coverage of the match in Trinidad.”
“We are also grateful for the support towards this initiative from the two host territorial boards, the Barbados Cricket Association and the T&T Cricket Board without whose assistance this could not have been achieved,” said Imran Khan. “We’re very excited about this initiative.”
Coverage planned for the Final
The WICB is also planning to have enhanced webcasts of the Final, which is due to start next Friday at a venue that will be determined by the outcome of this weekend’s matches.
The WICB will continue also provide “live” online text updates on its social media platforms – www.facebook.com/windiescricket and www.twitter.com/windiesregional.
Those who tune in to the WICB website for webcast coverage and/or social media updates for the semi-finals will eventually know who wins these games and discover the venue for the final.
Canadian cricket has received support from the WICB and from the Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board and T&T Women’s Cricket Board over recent years for the senior national men’s team, the women’s national team. Several of Canada’s leading juniors have also played as part of ICC Americas Under-15 and Under-19 teams in WICB competitions, which also assisted the development of these Canadian cricketers.
One T&T player was assigned to each of the Canadian regional teams participating in the 2013 CIBC National Cricket League.
[EN based on WICB Media Release dated April 18, 2014.]