The Caribbean need not worry. Calypso cricket will reign at the world tournament. Senior media and communications manager Philip Spooner guaranteed that the upcoming ICC Women’s World T20 will have a definite Caribbean flair to it when the event bowls off across the region in November.
Spooner made the promise earlier this week after unveiling the trophy at Parliament in a special ceremony with Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
“It’s going to have a strong Caribbean culture. Food, music, merriment, party in the stands. All the things that have become synonymous with West Indies cricket that the whole world wants to see and you will get them,” Spooner assured.
“What we want to do for this tournament is make it a huge Caribbean festival and a lot of activities in the tournament will have a strong Caribbean feel.
“We expect strong support for the West Indies Women’s team as they’re defending champions and we know people are already talking about it.
“It’s all over ESPN already and our marketing campaign is going to complement that. It’s going to be exceptionally good,” he added.
It’s the third such major cricketing event the region will play host to over the last 11 years after the Caribbean successfully staged the men’s World Cup and World Twenty20 in 2007 and 2010, respectively.
But there were several complaints over the stringent ICC restrictions placed at the 2007 event that saw patrons prohibited from bringing bottles, drums, shells and other such outside items into the grounds.
The ICC then made the subsequent adjustments for the World T20 three years later to provide a more Caribbean feel for the spectators and teams alike.
“We have a huge marketing campaign that we’re going to unveil at the end of the football World Cup. Obviously it’s difficult to do much during the football World Cup as that is an unprecedented event where everyone in the world is watching,” explained Spooner.
“So we’re going to start our activation in a major way at the end of the football World Cup and we expect crowds to come out. You will know that the Women’s World T20 is coming to the Caribbean and we expect very good crowds.
“The West Indies team are defending champions and they will be playing against England and they are the 50-over champions. We have Pakistan and obviously the Aussies are perennial champions. New Zealand just broke the world record in 50-over women’s cricket so it’s going to be a huge tournament, a massive event for the Caribbean with an estimated audience of 500 million viewers and it’s the first time in the history of women’s cricket that it’s a stand-alone tournament,” he added.
The tournament bowls off from November 9 to 24 in St Lucia, Guyana and Antigua. (JM)
