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West Indies cricket grounds - Sabina Park, Jamiaca.

Filed under Cricket Article

Do you know that every cricket ground in any country is based on a club of people - called as club members....I hope you do. They are the people who manage all the happenings at that particular cricket ground and are responsible for every arrangement. So the story with Sabina Park in Jamaica, Kingston is that no club member (all male) is allowed to take a ladies name in the club.............else he buys drinks for every other club member.

What actually happened is that once a club member mentioned a woman's name and started to describe his a SabinaPark,Jamaica.jpg

ffair with her. Unfortunately.. her husband was right behind him and without giving it a second thought, he broke various bones in that man's body. Since then, no one mentions a ladies name at Jamaica cricket club..!!

Sabina Park cricket ground in Jamaica is also famous, or infamous rather for the test match between England and West Indies in 1999 when pitch was found too dangerous for the batsmen. After 10.1 overs, in which England lost 3 wickets, umpires Steve Bucknor and Venkataraghavan called the match off. This Sabina Park instance is the only time when a test match is abandoned because of "unsuitable pitch condition". There has been a one day match between India and Srilanka at Rajkot which was called off just the same reason..

One must agree that umpires took the right decision that day to call off the match, as there has been cases when batsmen have got injured because of dangerous pitches in West Indies... If you look at history of India's tour of West Indies, once Bisen Singh Bedi declared his innings as Indian batsmen were hit on the body too many times by West Indies fast bowlers.... but having said that, that is the beauty of cricket in Caribbean. At Sabina Park, the crowds are drank with local beer but well behaved, one end is dominated by beautiful Blue Mountain s and its a small ground - which means more fours and sixes..

The time difference between India and Jamaica, West Indies is about 11 hours and 25 minutes which means that we Indians have to start the day other way round if we want to catch any cricket Team India plays there. But if you are planning to visit Jamaica, for 2006 India's tour of West Indies, or may be for the Cricket World Cup in March 2007, read this - Upon arrival at Kingston's Manley airport, visitors are given a taste of things to come. Just outside the customs hall, a billboard hovers over the taxi drivers, street vendors and ready-to-pounce scam artists. There's no touchy-feeliness about this sign. It simply reads; 'Welcome To Jamaica. Walk good.'

The tourism department official explained that it's simultaneously a safety message, greeting and a warning. "We want everyone to have a good time in our country," he says, while pointing out the various no-go areas on the Kingston map. "Walk good means go with respect and vigilance. Walk good means have fun but be careful." It's sensible advice.

Sabina Park

cricket ground in Jamaica has a capacity of around 15,000 but due to the upcoming Cricket World Cup, various changes are being employed. A Total of $US 29 Millions is being spent to improve the ground structure but even that amount is not enough to bring smooth changes. The officials have run out of "Cement" in Jamaica island and that's is the reason - the matches that Indian team is scheduled to play at Jamaica (a warm up match and then first two ODI's), were in trouble. The Jamaica cricket officials have now confirmed that tour will go on as per schedule and Sabina Park will be ready for the India vs West Indies matches.

But what about the weather at Jamaica. Well, that is not supposed to be very good when Indian team will be in West Indies. May month is generally a wet month there - full of rain and the following months like June, July and so on are prone to very "unpredictable " weather. They are termed as Hurricane Months in Kingston. But by the time Cricket World Cup comes, things should be well and fine.

As far as cricketers that this island has produced - the list includes Michael Holding, Courtney Walsh and current West Indies opener Chris Gayle. Sabina Park has the fastest pitch in all West Indian grounds, and although it has slowed down over the years, they have the ability to surprise batsmen. Specially from Sub-continent.

For schedule, timing, Channel for Live telecast and other informations on India's tour of West Indies 2006, Read this.

Its Only Cricket

West Indies cricket grounds - Sabina Park, Jamiaca.

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