There may be a slight delay, but there are no major obstacles in the way of the highly anticipated Block Twenty20 cricket tournament, set to be rolled out by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment.
Originally scheduled to start on July 16, the community-based cricket initiative will now begin on July 28, according to project director Courtney Browne.
The former West Indies wicketkeeper-batsman and Barbados captain said the delay affords more time to sort out logistics.
Browne, who played 20 Tests and 46 One-Day Internationals for the West Indies, told Barbados TODAY that more details, including fixtures, venues,and squads, will be available after the National Sports Council (NSC) finalises plans at a meeting on Tuesday.
“We had a bit of a delay because we wanted to give everybody a little more time to get their teams together… the logistics of it as well, so we thought pushing it back a little later would be best for everyone,” said Browne who pinpointed next Monday as the official start date.
“We wanted to streamline the tournament better, so logistically it can run better. We are actually going to only use four or five National Sports Council grounds to do the entire tournament,” said the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy winner.
Browne, a former West Indies selector, said there were no major obstacles in the coordination of the Block T20 initiative.
“There are no major hiccups, it is just to get the logistics a lot better and put everybody in a better position, really, to make sure we get a successful tournament,” he said of the competition, which was conceptualised in 2019.
“Most of them [coaches] have already finalised their teams, but because they know they have a little more wiggle room, they are taking that opportunity to actually look at more players,” he stated, while indicating that 11 coaches have been appointed to lead teams, each of which will be based out of one of the country’s 11 parishes.
The initiative is designed to appeal to youngsters who have been short on opportunities, giving them a chance to discover any raw talent while training with more established players.
While the winning team will receive $10 000, Minister of Youth, Sport, and Community Empowerment Charles Griffith earlier made it clear that the true goal of the initiative is not to pay out cash, but rather to focus on community enrichment, mentorship, and talent discovery.
Life skills—financial literacy, anger management and conflict resolution—as well as leadership, will be key components of the programme, with players benefiting from training in these areas.
Minister Griffith had said that a player from each team will receive a $2 000 scholarship for any training institution in Barbados.
“This launch is more than about cricket, it is an opportunity for us to try to reintegrate some of our youngsters who are outside of mainstream society back into society using sports or something that they love,” he said at the tournament’s launch on June 23.
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