Should I Obtain A Masters In Cricket Studies or Basket Weaving? Decisions, Decisions!

The Editor,
Barbados Free Press
Dear Sir/madam,
I recently came across a brochure, put out by the University of the West Indies (U.W.I.), offering a Master of Science program in Cricket Studies. The number of faculty or facilitators for this program, according to the brochure is twelve. I consider this to be a waste of resources, which could [...]

Lighting Erected At Kensington Oval – Barbados Now Ready For Cricket World Cup 2007

Revising History Is A Barbados Advocate Specialty!
Barbados Advocate Says Lights “Were Not A Requirement For Cricket World Cup”
I guess the folks at the Barbados Advocate can’t remember Mia Mottley’s electricity-conserving CWC 2007 when the final was played out (sort of) at night – without lighting. If you need a laugh, you should read their latest [...]

“Island Time” Stupidity Killed Grass At Barbados Kensington Oval?

Unconfirmed from a reader…
Do you believe that after spending hundreds of millions for Kensington Oval, then to have Cohobblopot, the plastic covers on the grounds were left on the pitch at Kensington for SIX WEEKS? They’re hoping the grass grows back in time for February for a match, good thing we had so much rain [...]

Barbados Cricket World Cup Disaster Still Receiving Worldwide Media Coverage

Malcolm Speed, the former ICC chief executive, has admitted the World Cup in the West Indies last year was one of the more disappointing episodes of his seven-year tenure in charge. (clip) Speed told the Sydney Morning Herald that what should have been a “celebration of cricket” will “always be looked upon less than favourably” [...]

Vasbert Drakes Returns To Barbados After Coaching Stint With Emirates

Cricketer Back To West Indies
Despite his stern appearance in the photo, Vasbert Drakes is considered one of the nicest guys in cricket (at least according to the Flickr account we nicked the photo from!)
Vasbert is a (very) fast bowler and is returning to Barbados from a three-month coaching contract in the Middle East.
Glad to have [...]

Asian Cricket Chief: Bring Cricket To The 2012 Olympics

Sounds Good To Us!
THE new chairman of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has said that he wants to try to get the sport included in the 2012 Olympics even though the earliest it can become part of the programme is technically 2020.
Nasim Ashraf, chairman of the Pakistian Cricket Board, made his promise after replacing [...]

Why Not Cricket At The 2012 Olympic Games, London?

Why Does the World’s #2 Sport Need the Olympics?

The dream of winning an Olympic Medal inspires athletes from all over the world, and it will motivate athletes in countries that do not currently play Test cricket or the World Cup. The Olympics is the largest stage in the world for sports, and being in the [...]

Barbados Kensington Oval Nominated For Structural Steel Engineering Award… But Can We Eat It?

Yes folks, the news is in…
Our “like new used only once” Kensington Oval has been nominated for the 2008 Structural Steel Design Awards by Corus (Europe’s second largest steel producer) and the British Constructional Steel Association.
Does that make me proud?
Frankly, the oval was fine as it was. Really. We would have been much farther ahead [...]

Cricket Legend Keith Barker Passes

Mourners farewell to East Lancashire cricket legend Keith Barker

MOURNERS packed a church to pay their respects to cricket legend Keith Barker – with tributes being paid by ex-players from as far away as his native Barbados.
The funeral service, held at All Saints Church, Clayton-le Moors, heard tributes from the cricket world, including one from ex-West [...]

Blogging Around Barbados: Pit Bull Chased By Chickens, Who Is This Fashion Model At Mullins Beach?, Penguins and The Death Of Bajan Cricket…

Looking around the net this morning we found some excellent articles – including some we really disagree with. Here’s a sampling…
Bajan Reporter has the story of a cowardly pit bull that is regularly beaten up by a chicken – but on another story we have to strongly disagree with Ian Bourne, who seems to admire [...]

Florida USA Builds $70 Million Dollar CRICKET Stadium!

Civilised Sporting Activities In The USA…
“But this $70 million park wasn’t built for baseball, football or even soccer — it’s the first in the U.S. built for cricket.”
Full story at Keltruth Blog – Cricket In America?

Paddy Briggs’ Interview – Sir Everton Weekes

“I have been in Barbados over the past couple of weeks partly to do some research into a book that I am writing about West Indian cricket. Whilst on the island I was able to interview the last surviving member of the great ‘Three Ws’, Sir Everton Weekes. He told me about the open discrimination [...]

A Reminder On Election Day: Prime Minister Owen Arthur Personally Donates US$150,000 In After Tax Income To…

Election Day Note: We published this article way back during Cricket World Cup (April 18, 2007). We thought it would be appropriate to bring it back today in view of the few commenters who seem to think Owen Arthur is still a poor little boy with no shoes.   
One of the lines in the article struck [...]

Cricket Professional Hartley Alleyne Granted U.K. Deportation Review – BFP’s Cliverton Says “Bring On The Republic!”

After living and working in Britain for the last 30 years, former Kent and Worcestershire fast bowler Hartley Alleyne was ordered deported to his native Barbados last year. He appealed the decision and has just been granted a deportation review.
No guarantee that he can stay in Britain – only a review.
Frankly, on hearing stories like [...]

Barbados Forensic Scientists Testify To Poison At Bob Woolmer Inquest

Murder, Money, Pesticide In Drink
Two Barbados forensic scientists have testified that they found the deadly poison cypermethrin in the body of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer. Patrick Best and Cheryl Corbin told the inquest that they found the pesticide when they examined Woolmer’s body and stomach contents. Jamaican Government pathologist Ere Sheshiah testified that [...]

The Deaths of Cricket Coach Bob Woolmer and Barbados Prime Minister Tom Adams – Some Common Circumstances?

NOTE ABOUT TIMING: There has been quite a debate going on in the comments section of this article. Richard Goddard wrote that David Simmons was a member of the Cabinet at the time or shortly after Adams was Prime Minister. Several readers contest this, and in the likelihood that Simmons was not a cabinet member, [...]

Was Pakistan Cricket Coach Bob Woolmer Murdered?

Twenty years from now, no one will remember much about Cricket World Cup 2007 except for one event: the strange death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer in his hotel room in Jamaica.
More evidence of possible foul play surfaced last Friday during the inquest being held in Jamaica. The pesticide cypermethrin were found in Woolmer’s blood [...]

Toilets At Kensington Oval To Be Flushed Weekly – Because They Are Never Used

Dengue Fever Fight Highlights Reckless Government Spending
For the last three months, maintenance staff at Kensington Oval have instituted a schedule of flushing all the toilets once a week to deny their use as a breeding ground for mosquitoes. They also add kerosene to the drain traps to kill larve – according to an article [...]

Plantation Reserve Sugar A “Huge Success Story” – US$203,000 Per Month Sales (How Much Did Cricket World Cup Cost Us?)

The Nation News is featuring yet another story on the success of Barbados’ Plantation Reserve sugar. The brand is doing very well with volume of 20,000 tins sold last month at 5 UK pounds per tin… or about US$203,000. (see The Nation News Sweet Taste Of Success)
Keep in mind that is sales, not profits, folks. [...]

Your Child Is Sick: Welcome To Barbados Queen Elizabeth Hospital

“I don’t know how much the government spent on Cricket World Cup, but every time I go past that big white elephant Kensington Oval I think of my son and all the tears and fear over that filthy, falling down slum we call our hospital.
BFP, please print the photos of the QEH toilet next [...]

Updated: We’re Ready For Cricket World Cup Now – Cricket Played At Night In Barbados!

UPDATED: Even Reuters is reminding the world that Cricket World Cup’s Kensington Oval “does not have floodlighting“. The legacy of the Cricket World Cup disaster will be with us for years.
Look Mom, We Can Play Cricket At Night!
The Nation News website is featuring a front page story about how “Barbados is putting forward a bid [...]

We Were Promised Cricket World Cup Accounting Would Be Delivered NOW. (Did We Stupid Bajans Really Believe That Promise?)

The financial and public relations disaster called Cricket World Cup has come and gone – and with it hundreds of millions of tax dollars that will see our grandchildren still working to pay off the debt decades from now.
We were promised an accounting.
The time we were promised to have that accounting is now.
Barbados Underground has [...]

Cricket World Cup Stiffs The Barbados Police – Officers Owed Over A Million Dollars For Security Duties

Commissioner Dottin & Deputy Prime Minister Mottley Failed In Their Duty To Ensure Our Officers Would Be Paid
Was every senior official who had anything to do with organising Cricket World Cup in Barbados a moron?
The latest revelation in the never-ending saga of the crooks and idiots in charge of giving away our country on [...]

Bajan Backlash Against China – BLP Election Strategy Backfires

Nothing Is Free: Especially Money From Communist China
In the wake of a disastrously failed Cricket World Cup, one of the key election strategies settled upon by the BLP “backroom boys” is to push the concept that skilled diplomacy by Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur and his government has resulted in, and will continue [...]

Who Really Owns Kensington Oval?

The Legacy Of Cricket World Cup: Debt, Debt and More Debt

‘It was to be the lead event for Barbados and the Caribbean, however, as most of us can certainly attest this was not the case. I will even go as far to say that the event was just short of a disaster’.
These were among the comments made by Chairman, Denis Tull, of the 40 member [...]

We Publish Exclusive Photo Of Cricket World Cup Final Game Ending

Match Officials Slammed By ICC For Cricket World Cup “I Can’t See The #@$! Bat” Final Game
“The World Cup, which had already been dogged by poor crowds, bad publicity, and one-sided cricket, not to mention the lingering shadow of Bob Woolmer’s death in Jamaica, desperately needed a successful final between Australia and Sri Lanka to [...]

Cricket World Cup Caused A Drop In Barbados Tourist Numbers When Compared With Last Year!!!!

Let’s See Here…
If Barbados had not been fool enough to buy into the Cricket World Cup we would have had more tourists on the island from January to May, increased business revenues and would now have half a billion dollars more in the bank.
Lord Have Mercy on the poor Bajan taxpayers!
From The Broad Street Journal…
DOWN [...]

Owen Arthur Government Targets Bajan Wallets With 2,500 New Video Lottery Terminals – “A Tax On Stupid People”

My Fellow Barbadians… Have I Got A Deal For You!
Listen up, folks! As your Prime Minister, I can assure you that this is the sweetest deal you’re going to find this side of Nigeria…
INVEST TEN DOLLARS with me, and there will be a 93% chance that you will never see any of that money again!
There [...]

Barbados Tourism Minister Noel Lynch Just Can’t Help Himself…

Noel Lynch Spins Like A Top
To respond to the front page Daily Nation article headlined ‘The Best by Far!’ by Roy Morris dated 28th May 2007.

‘Stating repeatedly he would not back down from his assessment that CWC represented Barbados finest hour’, Lynch noted that 63,480 long-stay visitors were on the island in April, the [...]

ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 Act – As Passed By Barbados Government

Who Actually Read The Cricket World Cup Legislation?
Did you ever read the Cricket World Cup legislation as passed by the Parliament of Barbados?
Thought so. Me neither.
So let’s all dig into the legislation and see what we can find, shall we?
Let’s see how our representatives signed away our sovereignty and gave away everything for free – [...]

Lord’s Test Match Yesterday: Times Laments The Impending Extinction Of West Indies Cricket ( ! )

A well written piece by Times chief sports writer Simon Barnes…
West Indian Tiger in Danger – Please Give Generously
In cricket, perhaps more than any other game, there are times when your patriotism for the nation that bore you is overtaken by patriotism for the greater nation of cricket. It felt like that [...]

Anonymous Letter Sent To Many People – Raises Questions About The Air India & Destiny Cricket Charters

Adrian Loveridge tells us that David Thompson, MP, Richard Sealy MP, Denis Kellman MP, Austin Husbands, and journalist David Ellis are co-recipients of an anonymous letter that recently arrived at Adrian’s office.
Here is Adrian’s story…
I today, received via mail an unsigned letter raising a number of concerns regarding primarily, the Barbados Tourism Authority and their [...]

Courtesy …

Hey … unlike the people of Bim and the CWC, at least these fans were given the option to decline the rectal exam for their free tickets …
Odd Baseball Promotion: Free Tickets For Fans Who Receive a Rectal Exam At The Stadium
Want free baseball tickets? All you had to do last night was show [...]

Prime Minister Owen Arthur On Cricket World Cup – ‘The Only Thing We Will Get…’

‘The Only Thing We Will Get’
This remarkable statement was made by the Right Hon Owen Arthur at a political meeting last night and carried on the StarCom Network News at 7.30am this morning.
He was referring to the Kensington Oval gate receipts from the recently hosted CWC matches on Barbados.
But what about Governments share (taxes and [...]

Chris de Caires Says Finances Of Cricket World Cup Barbados Are None Of Your Damn Business

LOC: CWC Figures Within 3 Months
THE TRUE FINANCIAL PICTURE of World Cup Barbados should be known within the next three months.
Whether it will become known to the public, however, is not certain. At a Press conference held by the Local Organising Committee (LOC) yesterday at Kensington Oval, chairman Chris de Caires stated:
“I expect we [...]

Barbados Opposition Leader Asks – $150 Million Tax Dollars Later… Who Owns Kensington Oval?

“Interesting also, (Minister of State Clyde Mascoll) must tell us who actually owns the redeveloped Kensington Oval. I do not want to believe what I am hearing about Kensington, $150 million later, not belonging to all Barbadian taxpayers.”
…Opposition DLP Leader David Thompson in a May 6, 2007 media release about Cricket World Cup
We Don’t [...]