Tag Cricket Grounds

Christopher Columbus - a well known European explorer and trader, promised to name the next land he finds as "Holy Trinity" and it was a miracle that he ended up finding Trinidad and Tobago, which was in the middle of three peaks of Trinity Hills.

So that was the beginning of Trinidad and Tobago's island on World's map but before I tell you about the cricket at this land, I want to add a information that most of us didn't know. We see West Indies cricket players having Indian names like Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Dinanath Ramnaraine, Ganga and like wise and wonder what's the logic behind that. Well, here is the reason - in 1839, British government was dominating both India and the Islands of Trinidad and Tobago and suddenly, they needed more "Coolies" or labourers to work at the sugar plantations called Cocoa. At that time, many Indians' from Calcutta were sent there and were made to work seven and half hours a day. Six days a week. And were paid 13 cents per day. And that caused many Indians - mostly Hindu's and Muslim to settle there and become an important part of that Trinidad and Tobago Island.

And after so many years, I feel like that is the reason why Queen's Park Oval cricket ground at Trinidad is the luckiest for Indians team in all of West Indian cricket grounds.....If you don't know, let me tell you that India have won just three test matches on West Indies soil (as of today - 29 April 2006) and all of them has come at Queen's Park Oval only - First in March 1971, then in April 1976 (when Indian team chased down 406 in the last Innings - the third highest fourth successful chase in test cricket, ever and last one in April 2002 - the last time Indian cricket team toured West Indies.

Queen's Park Oval is generally thought of as the most picturesque of the old grounds in the West Indies. It is also the largest, accommodating 25,000 spectators in comfort. The capacity of the ground has made it most profitable - holding at least 7000 more than any other ground in the West Indies.

If you are looking forward to watch a cricket match at this stadium, I suggest you to reserve Trini Posse stand. For those not familiar with Queen's Park Oval's Trini Posse, here's the lowdown. The stand is situated at square leg, and seats around 500 cricket fans. For the price of the US$30 ticket, punters receive a free T-shirt, a barrage of music, and all the food and alcohol they can consume. On designated match days, there are also local beer-sponsored dancing girls, who strut their semi-naked stuff between overs. Purists be warned. This is no place for the faint-hearted. The Trini Posse is brash, unadulterated gimmickry. But then again, that's the plan.

"Everyone has a wonderful time here," said Nigel Comacho, a local dentist who, along with eight colleagues, thought up the idea in 1991. "Numbers for Test cricket were falling, so we thought we'd add some spice. We put in a sound system, employed a DJ, introduced the dancing girls and received sponsorship. It's been building in popularity ever since."

Seems like a good deal to me, but then... I am still a bachelor. And this stand seems to be exclusively for my kind of people. You better try some other stand if you have changed your marital status and want to watch cricket at Queen's Park Oval..!!!