THE Caribbean Twenty20 tournament has been hailed as a resounding success.
Additionally, West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Dr Julian Hunte feels the encouraging turnout of fans to the event in Barbados and Antigua is a sign that the spirit of the game has returned in the region.
“I feel the spirit of West Indies cricket is back as a result of the tremendous rallying of the lovely fans during this tournament,” he said.
“I felt very motivated by what I saw and would like to say a massive ‘thank you’ to the thousands of cricket lovers who came out and played a key role in spurring on their teams.
“I also want to thank and congratulate the CEO of the WICB, Dr Ernest Hilaire, event manager Cindy McLean and their team for a tremendous job to put on this tournament.
“Many thanks also to the organising committees in Antigua and Barbados and all the people who played a huge role in making the event a success.”
Some of the matches at Kensington Oval attracted crowds of more than 7 000, while the games at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground saw turnouts of about 5 000 on a few nights.
The WICB boss also congratulated new champions Trinidad and Tobago after their 36-run victory over English county Hampshire in the final at Kensington on Sunday night.
The triumph earned Trinidad and Tobago US$62 500 and a trip to the Airtel Champions League in India later this year.
“We saw a great performance by the Trinidad and Tobago team as they again proved they are the best team in the Caribbean in the T20 format,” Hunte said.
“They played like true champions from start to finish. They came into the tournament full of confidence and won convincingly.
“They were very well led and played a special brand of cricket. They were full of energy and brought great entertainment.”
Of all domestic cricket tournaments globally, the Caribbean Twenty20 received the widest live media coverage inclusive of live television broadcast, live radio commentary, live text commentary via CoverItLive on ct20.windiescricket.com and live score and other updates on Facebook and Twitter.
“We were also delighted with the role of ESPN and the team which was responsible for producing the event,” Hunte said. “We also had a high-quality radio broadcast via the Line & Length Network and the highlights packages through CMC.
“With these systems in place, the cricket world can see the quality that we have here in the Caribbean.
The entire tournament was a tremendous success.” (HG)
