SM Jaleel and Company Limited will pump approximately $265,000 (US$42,000) in prize-money into the regional four-day cricket competition next year. In a sponsorship deal sealed with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) yesterday, the company signed to take on the responsibilities of financing the region's premier tournament for an extensive four-year period.
And the tournament, known as the Red Stripe Cup until 1998 when it was not sponsored and dubbed the President's Cup, has been named after one of ``Jaleel's'' soft drinks and will be referred to as the Busta Cup.
Dr Aleem Mohammed, chairman of SM Jaleel, said at yesterday's launch in Westmoorings that he chose to name the tournament after this product because ``Busta Cup has a nice ring to it.''
And Prime Minister Basdeo Panday and WICB president Pat Rousseau, who were among the many dignitaries at yesterday's function, were in total agreement. Both gentlemen also showered praises upon Mohamm-ed and his company for stepping in to save the tournament, which took a severe nose-dive when Jamaican company Desnoes & Geddes ended their sponsorship last year.
Panday, who delivered the feature address, described Jaleel's efforts as ``a magnificent gesture'' and boasted that he was ``proud that a company from my country has come forward to rescue the tournament.''
Rousseau, who flew out from the West Indies tour specifically for the launch and is scheduled to return to South Africa today, exclaimed that ``this is a great day in West Indies cricket.''
All six regular regional participants-Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Windward Islands and Trinidad and Tobago-will be competing in the tournament, which begins with T&T entertaining defending champions Guyana on January 14.
And the first semifinal will be played four days after the February 15 completion of the five rounds of round-robin competition.
The second semifinal will be contested from February 26 and the final from March 20-23. The venues for the knockout matches will be determined at a later date.
The champions will receive US$10,000 while the runner-up will collect US$4,000 and each outright win will be worth US$1,000.
The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament will be US$1,000 richer while the MVP of each team (chosen by team members) will collect US$500.
After their opening fixture, T&T will be at home on only one more occasion-against Jamaica from January 28-during the round-robin segment of the tournament.
This country will be away to the Windward Islands (January 22-25), Barbados (February 5-8) and Leeward Islands (February 12-15).
Mohammed, the man behind the project, could not have put it better when he declared: ``I invite all Caribbean people-governments, cricket boards, the media, business houses, the person on the street-to join Jaleel in using the Busta Cup Series as a vehicle to motivate and unite the Caribbean region so that our collective commitment and support of the West Indies team and their future replacements will ensure that our brilliant local talent will once more be a powerful influence, not only in world cricket, but in world business, world culture and world sports.''
Here are the round-robin fixtures (home team mentioned first):
Round 1 (Jan 15-18)-Barbados v Windward Islands; Jamaica v Leeward Islands. (Jan 14-17)-T&T vs Guyana.
Round 2 (Jan 22-25)-Windwards v T&T; Jamaica v Guyana; Leewards v Barbados.
Round 3 (Jan 29-Feb 1)-Guyana v Barbados; Windwards v Leewards. (Jan 28-31)-T&T v Jamaica.
Round 4 (Feb 5-8)-Jamaica v Windwards; Guyana v Leewards; Barbados v T&T.
Round 5 (Feb 12-15)-Guyana v Windwards; Leewards v T&T; Barbados v Jamaica.