Senior Sports Officer in the Ministry of Sports in St.Kitts Vernon Springer, on Tuesday 28th January gave Curtis Morton of NTV Sports Nevis, a guided tour of the almost completed Warner Park upgrade project.
The ARDENT Lighting group which was contracted by PRAVA Int which won the bid for the project, are in the process of completing the lighting of the Park.
There are eight poles strategically placed around the Park which each consist of 75 lights—72 at the top and 3 at the sides which will operate for two hours in case there is a black out at the top and give ample time for repair work to be carried out. The first such design in the Caribbean.
The poles are firmly placed some four feet down in the earth and are 115 feet skyward.
There is also a JUMBOTRON score board which adds St.Kitts to an enviable list. There are only four other such scoreboards in the entire world:: Two in India; one in Australia and one in England.
The lighting system is complimented by a huge backup generator which Springer opines can run Basseterre in terms of electricity output and a huge transformer.
The practice area at the Cricket Academy will also be lit and will make it the only practice facility in the Caribbean to be lit.
Head grounds man, Stedroy Douglas has been placed in charge of bringing the grounds and pitches up to international standards as well.
St.Kitts will host two first class matches in the near future as part of the WICB regional four day competition:
March 1st to 4th—Leewards v CCC
March 7th to 10th—Leewards v Barbados—a day and night fixture
Springer also revealed that the Government of St.Kitts and Nevis is currently in serious negotiations with the WICB in terms of securing some of the upcoming games in the CPL tournament which is scheduled for July.
He is confident that this will become a reality.
The Government of St.Kitts and Nevis has invested over four million dollars into the project and Springer noted that with the historical impact that Nevisian cricketers have already made on the international scene, it is all geared towards making Warner Park one of the finest and most loved international cricketing venues in the world.
There are also plans afoot to upgrade the other cricketing grounds around the island and clay will be brought over from Nevis to improve the condition of the pitches.
Springer used the opportunity to urge Nevisians to come over to watch the upcoming regional matches which will be staged at the new look Warner Park and cheer on the Leewards team which is being captained by Nevisian Kieran Powell.