Falklands cricket team to tour region

Cricketers Alex Pearce, David Hewitt, Craig Paice and Ian Betts will be touring the Caribbean next month. (Carol Martindale)

By Carol Martindale | Mon, October 08, 2012 - 12:51 PM

The cricket team from The Falkland Islands will be heading to the Caribbean next month for some friendly matches with local teams.

The squad will be making stops in Barbados, Belize and Jamaica.

Craig Paice, who will be captain of the team on the Barbados leg of the tour, said while new to the Caribbean weather, they are ready to deal with the challenges. In fact, they said they were looking forward to playing in warm weather.

Paice, along with David Hewitt, Alex Pearce and Ian Betts, met with six Caribbean journalists on a one-week visit to The Falkland Islands, ahead of the tour.

The team will be in Barbados from November 29 until December 3, but said the details of their matches are still to be worked out.

At present the team is training for the upcoming tour and Paice said they had already taken on board some useful training tips from Wendell Coppin when he visited them.

The cricketers said while they try to play at least once a week, this could be challenging during the winter months as it is more difficult to train.

Paice said their aim though is to keep raising the profile of cricket in The Falkland Islands and trying to get more juniors involved, adding that when the development officer is in place, the cricket training will continue in schools. Paice also said they were trying to maintain ICC status.

"We are trying to get new people into the game," said Paice, who was spokesperson for the group.

"In the early 30s and 40s cricket was a very popular game here even up to the 1960s. Then in the early 1990s a few cricket enthusiasts got together and played what they called The Falkland nationals. A team from Stanley used to play a team from Mount Pleasant, which is the base. In 2001 they applied to the ICC to get more funds and it slowly increased from there," he added.

He said in 2010 a team also went to Mexico and Costa Rica.

While on tour, the cricket team will be working with some charities in the respective islands. In Barbados, the team has chosen the Irving Wilson School.

Paice said during the Caribbean tour, they will be 'the face of The Falklands'.