Following a decision by Desnoes and Geddes to switch its attention to the One-Day tournament, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has not been given any commitment from a potential sponsor for the 1998 four-day series which opens on January 9.
As a result, the tournament, which will be called the PresidentÕs Cup, will revert to the format of previous years in which each of the six teams played each other once.
With the likelihood that there would not be a sponsor, WICB chief marketing executive Chris Dehring said the 1998 competition would be a manageable interim tournament with alternate funding.
It is the intention of the board to seek a long-term sponsor for an enhanced tournament in 1999.
Dehring identified escalating costs, limited capital in the Caribbean and competition from other sports as the main reasons sponsorship was not forthcoming.
More discerning
``Nowadays sponsors have become far more discerning as to how they spend their advertising dollar,'' he told local journalists at the Barbados Hilton yesterday.
``They will not turn a blind eye simply because of the notion being attached to West Indies cricket.
``We have a situation where sponsors require proper sponsorship management in return for their dollar, otherwise they will spend it in other forms.''
It will be the first time a regional first-class championship will be played without a major sponsor since 1965.
Shell Antilles and Guianas Limited sponsored the Shell Shield from 1966 to 1987, while Desnoes and Geddes gave backing to the Red Stripe Cup from 1988.
The marketing chief also said next yearÕs shortened regional competition would be augmented by exposure of regional players to a heavy schedule of international matchesÊtowards the end of 1997 and during the early part of 1998.
The West Indies senior team, which is rounding off a disappointing tour of Pakistan, moves on to the Sharjah Cup next week, while the ``A'' team is touring South Africa until January 7.
Apart from next yearÕs home series against England, the regionÕs under-19 cricketers will contest the Youth World Cup from January in South Africa.
Barbados, the 1997 regional four-day champions, open their defence of the tournament with an away match against Jamaica from January 9-12.
The tournament goes all the way down to April 13 in order to accommodate stoppages for international matches involving England.
The champions pocket US$10 000, the Most Valuable Player US$2 000, and each Man-of-the-Match gets US$150.