Montserrat national cricket team

Montserrat
Captain: McPherson Meade
Coach: Abdiel Hughes
Colours: Blue, green
Home ground: Salem Oval
Four Day wins: n/a
WICB Cup wins: n/a
Twenty20 wins: 0
Official website: Montserrat Cricket Association

The Montserrat cricket team has represented the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat in cricket. The team is not a member of the International Cricket Council, but the Montserrat Cricket Association is a member of the Leeward Islands Cricket Association, which itself is a member association of the West Indies Cricket Board, and players from Montserrat generally represent the Leeward Islands cricket team at domestic level and the West Indies at international level. Montserrat has however played as a separate entity in matches which held Twenty20 status, but has not appeared in first-class or List A cricket. The teams current coach is Abdiel Hughes, who was appointed in April 2012.[1] The current captain is McPherson Meade.[2]

History

A Montserrat cricket team first appeared in West Indian cricket in the 1912/13 Hesketh Bell Shield against Antigua at the Antigua Recreation Ground.[3] As the West Indies were yet to be granted Test status, this match did not hold first-class status. The team next appeared in the 1922/23 tournament against the same opposition, before appearing twice more in the 1925/26 competition against Dominica and Antigua, which was the year in which the team was first recorded as playing at Sturge Park in Plymouth.[3] The following year, they appeared in the 1927 competition, playing against Dominica and in the 1932 competition, where they played against Saint Kitts.[3]

There is a long gap between that match and Montserrat's next recorded appearance, which came in the 1969 Hesketh Bell Shield against Nevis.[3] The following year, Jim Allen, considered Monterrat's greatest sportsman,[4] debuted for the island. However, he would not become the islands first first-class cricketer, as William Duberry had played for the Leeward Islands in February 1967. Montserrat took part in the Hesketh Bell Shield and its replacement tournament, the Heineken Challenge Trophy, throughout most of the 1970s and the 1980s.[3] Their participation in the tournament continued into the 1990s, with matches home throughout this period being held at Sturge Park, which has also held first-class cricket on six occasions up to 1994.[5] From 1995, Montserrat was devastated by eruptions from Soufrière Hills. An eruption in 1997 destroyed Plymouth, with the resulting pyroclastic flows and ash fall from the eruption also destroying the main ground at Sturge Park, leaving the Montserratian team without first-class facilities.

However, the team continued to play on in regional tournaments in the late 1990s. By 2000, the team had a new home ground, the Salem Oval at Salem, where first-class cricket has since returned to on three occasions.[6] Having played in regional tournaments throughout the early to mid 2000s, Montserrat were invited to take part in the 2006 Stanford 20/20, whose matches held official Twenty20 status.[7] Allan Stanford gave US$100,000 for their participation.[8] They played one match in the tournament against Guyana, which they lost to their first-class opponents by 8 wickets, resulting in their elimination from the tournament.[9] Two years later, they were invited to take part in the 2008 Stanford 20/20,[8] playing and defeating the Turks and Caicos Islands in a preliminary match, before losing to Nevis in the following round.[9] In that same year, Lionel Baker became the first Montserratian to play One Day International and Test cricket for the West Indies.[10]

Notable players

See List of Montserrat Twenty20 players and Category:Montserratian cricketers

References

  1. ↑ "Montserrat secures services of local coach". Antigua Observer. 14 April 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  2. ↑ Springer, Vernon (11 June 2012). "The Leeward Island Cricket Association Three Day Tournament". Kittivisian Life. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Other Matches played by Montserrat". CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  4. ↑ Fergus, H. (1996) Gallery Montserrat: Some Prominent People In Our History, Canoe Press, Montserrat. ISBN 976-8125-25-X.
  5. ↑ "First-Class Matches played on Sturge Park, Plymouth". CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  6. ↑ "First-Class Matches played on Salem Oval, Salem". CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  7. ↑ "Twenty20 Matches played by Montserrat". CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  8. 1 2 Berry, Scyld (1 November 2008). "Sir Allen Stanford's cash crucial to Montserrat". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  9. 1 2 "Guyana v Montserrat, 2006 Stanford 20/20". CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  10. ↑ "A Promising Start For Montserrat's Lionel Baker". Government of Montserrat. www.gov.ms. 9 April 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
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