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Cricket fans in Barbados will get their chance to show how much they love our players.

THE NATION newspaper yesterday announced its Rally 'Round The West Indies plan - a way to support the team for the third Test against Australia starting here on March 26.

This NATION initiative has the support of the president of the Barbados Cricket Association, Tony Marshall, and is being done in conjunction with Branckers on Fontabelle.

A committee headed by Wilfred Field, Advertising Manager of the NATION, met yesterday at NATION House to set the nationwide rallyling cry in motion.

The committee comprises NATION President Harold Hoyte, Associate Managing Editor Roxanne Gibbs, Sales and Product Development Manager Elaine King, Sales Executive Orville Blackman, President of the BCA, Tony Marshall, Managing Director of Branckers Rawle Brancker, Alison Saunders-Franklin of Saunders-Franklin Associates, and Paul Skinner and Judy Millington of the BCA marketing committee.

The stage is now set for the national rally 'round campaign to begin on Monday, March 22.

The plan will see among other things fans wearing red and white to cricket on the first two days of the Test; the signing a life-size card to be presented to the team; streets hung with Rally 'Round The West Indies banners; motorists who support the Windies driving with their headlights on during the day; radio stations playing cricket calypsos during cricket week; and David Rudder specially flown in to lead in the singing of the cricket anthem on the first day of the match, when those at Kensington will be asked to sing loudly and lustily.

Field, whose idea it was to launch the national support campaign, said yesterday:

``The West Indies team is the one institution which unites us all, and thus it was with that in mind that I felt the need to do something which would inspire the boys from a national level.''

Last Thursday in her Editor's Diary, Roxanne Gibbs appealed to Barbadians to stop the negativism. ``Stop the abuse which is pulling the boys lower than they already are,'' she wrote.

``Our boys now have 'home field' advantage. Playing before your home crowd is supposed to give a team a psychological boost ... let us do just that!''