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Test is sweet relief for rebound St Kitts
After 129 years, 93 previous venues and a two-and-a-half hour delay, Test cricket finally made it to St Kitts.
After 129 years, 93 previous venues and a two-and-a-half hour delay over a soggy outfield, Test cricket finally made it to St Kitts.
Welcomed by a joyful chorus of jazzy trumpets and a thumping base beat from boom boxes in a boisterous crowd, Indian pace bowler Munaf Patel sent down the historic first ball to West Indies opener Chris Gayle.
The delivery was worth far more than the leg bye it produced to kick-start the home side's innings -- it represented another thread in an economic lifeline for a nation washed up by the retreating tide of global trade.
"It's really, really special. We have never had a Test Match on St Kitts before, we have only seen Tests on TV, so it's so special," said local fan Nigel Williams, before hoisting his trumpet to join his calypso band mates to celebrate a straight drive for six from Gayle.
The 34,000 people who live in the federation of St Kitts and Nevis, in the Leeward Islands, could all fit inside many of the larger world cricket stadiums - and even have three seats each at the cavernous Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Their intimate 8,000 seater Warner Park stadium is a bet on their future -- based on tourism, after the island's centuries-old sugar cane industry folded after years of savage losses last year.
"This puts us on the international cricket map," said Charles Wilkin, who heads the St Kitts organising committee for the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup, when Australia, South Africa, the Netherlands and Scotland will come to town.
