When Liz Abraham found the winning entry ticket for a return trip for two on Virgin Atlantic Airways and handed it to its rightful owner, she could have hardly guessed she would be doing herself a favour.
Ticket-holder for the top door prize at last night’s final CLOBI Challenge 2011 cricket match, John Roger, paid Abraham the ultimate reward by allowing her to accept and keep the airline tickets.
A native of Melbourne, Australia, Roger reasoned that, since the prize trip is only for travel between Barbados and London, Abraham who lives in England would be more likely to utilise the tickets within the next year as stipulated by Virgin Atlantic Airways.
Both Roger and Abraham were among a group of 16 tourists from Almond Casuarina Beach Resort who came to Kensington Oval together and were given a batch of sequentially-numbered match tickets by their van driver.
“I dropped my entry ticket on my seat when we arrived at the match. I didn’t know about any prizes so I didn’t think I needed it anymore. When the ticket number was called for Virgin Atlantic prize we realised the winning ticket – #114 in the Greenidge & Haynes Stand – was from our group because other people had numbers in that sequence. I was the only person who didn’t have a ticket and #114 was the only number missing in our set of tickets so we figured it must be mine,” explained Roger, adding that he looked around where he had been sitting but didn’t see the missing ticket.
Abraham ventured down to the front of the stand and found the ticket soaked by the rain and stuck to a piece of wood. She immediately returned it to Roger and they, along with Roger’s girlfriend Kate Foster, went to claim the prize from the tournament organisers.
“I’m thrilled. I only just got here but already I have another trip to look forward to,” declared an overwhelmed Abraham who could hardly believe her good fortune as she accepted the prize from the airline’s Sales Manager for the Eastern Caribbean, Reina Hinds.
