7th Int’l Cricket Festival

( Photo ) Tour co-ordinator Roland Cox

The 7th International Seniors Cricket Festival, organized by Gullivers Sports Travel of the United Kingdom comes to Saint Lucia from March 4th to 12th, 2008.
Saint Lucia Tourist Board who has assisted Gullivers in organizing the Festival hopes that this will not be the last such event for the country sports tourism initiative. Barbados hosted the first five consecutive Festivals while Grenada hosted in 2006. The Cricket Festival did not take place in 2007, largely because of the ICC Cricket World Cup Tournament in the Caribbean.
The International Seniors Cricket Festival is for players 50 years and over, but three players 45 to 49 can be accommodated in each team. Six teams are participating in this year’s festival – three (Barbarians, Berkshire and Shropshire) from the United Kingdom, one from Trinidad & Tobago, one from Canada and the other from the host country St. Lucia.
Each English team (Barbarians will be supplemented with local players) will play each non-English team. There will be four match-days with three matches being played simultaneously on each match-day at the Beausejour Cricket Ground, the Gros Islet Playing Field and the Dennery Cricket Ground. The final match will feature the best of the Englishmen against the best of the rest at the Beausejour Cricket Ground on Wednesday 12th March, 2008.

All matches will be limited-overs duration and are scheduled to begin at 10.00 a.m. each day.
The visiting teams will arrive here tomorrow Friday 29th February and depart on Friday, March 14th, and will be accommodated at Bay Gardens Hotel, Bay Gardens Inn and Bay Gardens Beach Resort in the Rodney Bay area. Meanwhile, a number of social engagements including trips to various parts of the island have been organized for the participants during their stay in St. Lucia.
Gemma Lott and Peter Hodcroft, senior staff members at Gullivers, the premier Sports Tourism Company in the United Kingdom will also be in Saint Lucia to assist local coordinator, Roland Cox, in ensuring that things run smoothly as planned.
FIXTURES
Tuesday; March 04; Berkshire vs Trinidad & Tobago - Barbarians vs Ontario Canada - Shropshire vs Saint Lucia; Gros Islet Playing Field - Beausejour Cricket Ground - Dennery Cricket Ground
Thursday; March 06; Barbarians vs Saint Lucia - Berkshire vs Ontario Canada - Shropshire vs Trinidad & Tobago; Gros Islet Playing Field - Dennery Cricket Ground - Beausejour Cricket Ground
Sunday; March 09; Barbarians vs Trinidad & Tobago - Berkshire vs Saint Lucia - Shropshire vs Ontario Canada; Mindoo Phillip Park - Beausejour Cricket Ground - Gros Islet Playing Field
Tuesday; March 11; Berkshire vs Shropshire - Saint Lucia vs Trinidad & Tobago - Barbarians vs Ontario Canada; Beausejour Cricket Ground - Dennery Cricket Ground - Gros Islet Playing Field
Wednesday; March 12; English XI vs The Rest XI; Beausejour Cricket Ground.