AUDIO AVAILABLE: Local insurance company NAGICO launched the Leeward Islands one-day cricket series in the Conference Room at its Main Office in Philipsburg, on Thursday afternoon.
NAGICO, who have been sponsoring the Leeward Islands one-day tournament since 2003, handed over another tangible cheque to president of the Leeward Islands Cricket Association (LICA), Gregory Shillingford.
For the tournament this year, six teams will be competing for the championship trophy. The teams in the tournament are Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitts and St. Maarten.
The tournament bowls off on September 8 with St. Maarten playing its first match against Montserrat in Montserrat. On that same day, St. Kitts will be home to defending champions Antigua and Barbuda and Nevis cricketers will go to Anguilla for their first match.
The two semifinals are slated for October 1 and 2 and final is scheduled for October 3. The semifinals and final will be played right here on St. Maarten.
At the press conference, an elated Shillingford was very gracious in accepting the cheque of EC$100,000. He highlighted one change to this year’s tournament, in that teams in the Leeward Islands will be allowed to register players from outside the Leeward Islands.
The reason for this additional feature is to, according to Shillingford, "enhance and bring interest to the tournament."
Shillingford expressed his thanks to NAGICO who have been financially supporting LICA and its one-day tournament even in this unstable financial period.
Raymond Ramphal, Managing Director of NAGICO noted that the company has always been community-minded, sponsoring activities in education and sport. He also said that "NAGICO is very much pleased to be once again, the sponsor of the Leeward islands cricket tournament despite all the economic downturns and effects we are suffering inside the Caribbean."
Dwayne Elgin, who is the secretary and PRO of the St. Maarten Cricket Association (SMCA), stated that the St. Maarten team is ready to participate in the tournament and will be hoping to improve on their performance last year when they reached the final.
Also at the presentation were Jimmy Challenger, Marketing Manager at NAGICO, and SMCA board members Robin Ramrattan and Kenny Hingorani.
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