#CricketPlayedLouder

Summer time in the Caribbean is also the season for the Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament. Anyone interested can visit the link for videos of interviews and match highlights. 

As my international readers may not know what cricket is about, in this version of the game there are 20 overs (6 balls make an over) and the objective is to score the most runs. The bowler bowls at a batsman. There are two at each end of the pitch (the grassless square where the ball is bowled). The batsman has to hit the ball far enough and run to the other end of the pitch while the other batsman runs to his opposite end. That's one run. If they do it twice, it is 2 runs. Now, the rest of the field (around the square) has grass and is encircled by a rope. Any balls going to the rope is 4 runs and the batsmen do not have to move. If the batsman hits the ball over the boundary, it is 6 runs. He does not have to move. 

Now the object of the  bowler is to get the batsman out. He has to hit the stumps (called wickets)  or cause someone in the field to catch the ball after the batsman hits it. It cannot touch the ground. It must be a straight catch. There is also another way for a batsman to get out, called "lbw", which is best explained by a cricket officianado.

This year, there have been some tremendous scores and wonderful performances. I will share a couple with you, beginning with the highlights of the Barbados Tridents first match - and they won against the Guyana Amazon Warriors. Two young cricketers shone like diamonds in the match. Raymon Reifer (a bowler) got a five-wicket haul and Shai Hope scored 88 runs. I just love the graphics!

              Barbados Tridents' Raymon Reifer grabs five wickets in the team's first win in the Hero CPL 2018

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Another really brilliant youngster is Guyana Warriors' Shimron Hetmyer who blazed a century (100 runs) in a match against the Jamaica Tallawahs (JTs). 

                                 Young Shimron Hetmyer celebrates during one of the Hero CPL 2018 matches

The "old Guard" Kieron Pollard of the St. Lucia Stars and Andre Russell, captain of the JTs were also scoring 100 runs this season. 

So guys enjoy your moment in time for another year.

Whitney Houston - One Moment In Time (Official Live Video)

(Credit: WhitneyHoustonHD)

    Here's to #CricketPlayedLouder!            

The Crop's Over for 2018

It's hot! Hot! Hot in Barbados today. The temperature rose to 30.9 Celsius. Nothing compared to some parts of Europe, I understand. Speaking of Europe, a sunny Bajan hello to my reader/s from the Netherlands, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, Portugal, France, Peru and of course my Barbadian family.

Today, August 6, 2018, is Kadooment Day in Barbados. Costumed bands paraded in beads, rhinestones, feathers to the rhythms of the season's popular party songs. Kadooment is a culmination of a month of fetes, calypso competitions and many other activities. Check the promotional video of the National Cultural Foundation - the organisation tasked with producing the annual event. 

                   
                                      Crop Over 2018 Calendar - NCF (2018)

Lil Rick continued to have a great season, going on to win the Sweet Soca Monarch title with "Breakfast In Bed", while Mikey won the Party Monarch title with "My Kinda Party". Rick also had the three (3) most frequently played songs for the Foreday Morning Jam in the wee hours of Saturday morning. 

                                     Mikey, My Kinda Party - Mikey Mercer (2018)

Only the day before, Mikey's "Feting Family" beat out Lil Rick's "True Story" for the People's Monarch, a fan voting competition organised by Starcom, one of the local radio networks. Both songs were frequently played for the first stage of the judging for Kadooment at the National Stadium.          

In parting, here is a touch of Kadooment colour and movement, with cultural ambassador and Barbados' soca queen, Allison Hinds, looking splendid in her 2018 costume. 

 

                                                    Barbados Today, August 6, 2018

As the dust settles after another Crop Over season, the song writers, fete promoters and the National Cultural Foundation's personnel  will be working on what they will do for next year; while the feting family will settle down to their regular lives for another year and break loose once again next August. 

Until next time...