Women cricket is an integral part

the WICB president and CEO amongst the dignitaries

GROS-ISLET, Saint Lucia – Under a near flawless Caribbean sky last Friday

evening, the 2008 West Indies Cricket Board Senior Women Cricket Tournament,

was launched at Saint Lucia’s Beausejour Cricket Ground.

The best players representing eight countries will be competing against each

other in a bid to gain selection onto the senior women cricket team.

The opening attracted the presence of Dr. Julian R. Hunte - president of the

WICB, Dr. Donald Peters – CEO of the WICB, Tony Howard – Cricket Operations

Officer at the WICB, Dr. Ernest Hilaire – Managing Director for ICC Champions

Trophy Tournament, and Bryan Calixte – the president of the Saint Lucia National

Cricket Association.

the assembled women cricketers

For reasons unknown, Bryan Calixte did not deliver the opening remarks, and

newly appointed Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth and Sports

Donavan Williams was called upon by MC Joseph Pereira to do so.

In delivering his first official public address, Williams not wanting to speak from

an official standpoint, he decided to speak to the gathering from the heart as a

fan.

He said that it was after hearing an announcement that Nadine George was now

a West Indies player that brought his interest back to the game after enduring

the many recent lows of the regional game.

newly installed permanet secretary Donovan Williams

Also addressing the gathering was Dr. Hunte, who lamented the fact that the

West Indies women cricketers did not receive the accolades deserving after a

recent successful tour of Europe.

He spoke of women cricket being an integral part of West Indies cricket, and

there will no longer be excuses as a result.

The eight participating countries are Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago,

Grenada, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana, and host nation

Saint Lucia. (Robertson S. Henry)