Barbados national cricket team facts for kids
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| Personnel | |
|---|---|
| Captain | Kraigg Brathwaite (First class), Shai Hope (List A) |
| Coach | Vasbert Drakes |
| Team information | |
| Colours | Blue, Gold, Black |
| Home ground | Kensington Oval |
| Capacity | 28,000 |
| History | |
| Four Day wins | 23 (plus 1 shared) |
| Super50 Cup wins | 7 (plus 1 shared) |
| CT20 wins | 0 |
The Barbados national cricket team is the official cricket team for the island of Barbados. It is managed by the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA). Barbados is part of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), which means players from Barbados can play for the West Indies cricket team internationally.
Even though Barbados doesn't usually play in international tournaments (except for the 1998 Commonwealth Games), they compete in important regional competitions in the Caribbean. These include the Professional Cricket League, which has the Regional Four Day Competition and the Regional Super50. The team is known as Barbados Pride in these leagues.
Many famous Barbadian cricketers have played for the West Indies team. Some of these legendary players include Garry Sobers, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Clyde Walcott, Everton Weekes, and Frank Worrell. More recent stars include Jason Holder, Shai Hope, and Kemar Roach.
Contents
Cricket History in Barbados
Early Days of Cricket
Cricket has been played in Barbados for a very long time, even since the late 1700s! In February 1865, Barbados played in what is now considered the very first first-class cricket match in the West Indies. They played against Demerara (which is now Guyana) in Bridgetown. Barbados won that game.
Later, in 1891, the Inter-Colonial Tournament began. This was a regular competition between Barbados, British Guiana, and Trinidad. Barbados was very successful, winning the tournament 11 times out of 28.
Barbados also started playing against teams from outside the West Indies. In the 1890s, several English teams toured the region. The first West Indies team was formed in 1897 to play against an English touring team. Three Barbadians were part of this first team. Later, Harold Austin became the first Barbadian to captain the West Indies team in 1902.
Test Cricket and Legends
The West Indies team played their first ever Test cricket matches in England in 1928. Five Barbadian players were on that historic team. One of them, George Challenor, was a fantastic batsman.
Teddy Hoad was the first Barbadian to captain the West Indies in a Test match, which happened in 1930 at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown. This was also the first Test match ever played in the West Indies! Another Barbadian, Herman Griffith, made history in 1930 by being the first bowler to get the famous Australian batsman Don Bradman out for a duck (meaning zero runs) in a Test match.
In 1946, two Barbadian batsmen, Clyde Walcott and Frank Worrell, set a new record for the highest partnership (runs scored together by two batsmen) in first-class cricket, scoring an amazing 574 runs without being separated!
Walcott, Worrell, and another Barbadian, Everton Weekes, all started playing Test cricket around the same time. They became known as the "three Ws" and were considered one of the best batting groups in cricket history. They were so important to the West Indies team from the late 1940s to the late 1950s. All three were later knighted and were among the first players inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
Frank Worrell made history again as the first black man to captain the West Indies team in 1960. He was followed by another Barbadian, Garfield Sobers, who scored 365 runs not out against Pakistan in 1958. This was the highest Test score ever for 36 years!
Cricket After Independence
Barbados became fully independent in 1966. That same year, the Shell Shield (a major first-class tournament) started, and Barbados won the first season! In 1973, Barbados also won the first edition of the Regional Super50, which is a shorter, one-day cricket competition.
Barbados was a very strong team in the early years of the Shell Shield, winning 12 out of the first 20 tournaments. They even won five times in a row from 1975 to 1980!
Barbadian players were also key to the West Indies team winning the 1975 and 1979 World Cups. Joel Garner, a Barbadian, took five wickets in the 1979 final. Malcolm Marshall, another Barbadian, became one of the world's best fast bowlers in the 1980s. The famous opening batsmen for the West Indies in the 1980s were Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, both from Barbados. They played together in 148 innings and scored 6,482 runs, which are still records for opening batsmen!
In 1998, Barbados played in the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This was the only time West Indian teams played individually in this event. Barbados won two matches but didn't make it to the semi-finals.
More recently, Jason Holder became the captain of the West Indies Test team in 2015, continuing the tradition of Barbadian leaders.
Cricket Grounds in Barbados
The main cricket ground in Barbados is Bridgetown's Kensington Oval. It can hold 28,000 people! Kensington Oval is the only ground in Barbados that has hosted big international matches like Tests, One Day Internationals, and Twenty20 Internationals. It even hosted the final of the 2007 World Cup.
Many other grounds in Barbados have also hosted first-class or List A matches for the Barbados team. Some of these include:
- Garrison Savannah, Bridgetown (used since 1865)
- Bay Pasture, Bridgetown (used since 1883)
- Desmond Haynes Oval, Black Rock (used since 1996)
- 3Ws Oval, Cave Hill (used since 2004)
Team Achievements
The Barbados cricket team has won many titles over the years:
- Regional Four Day Competition (24 wins): 1965–66, 1966–67, 1971–72, 1973–74, 1975–76 (shared), 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1990–91, 1994–95, 1996–97, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2006-07, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2019-20, 2021-22
- Domestic one-day competition (8 wins): 1972–73, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1987–88, 2002–03, 2010–11 (shared), 2013-14, 2016-17
- Inter-Colonial Tournament (defunct) (11 wins): 1891–92, 1893–94, 1897–98, 1899–1900, 1905–06, 1908–09, 1910–11, 1911–12, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1926–27
Commonwealth Games Record
Barbados participated in the cricket tournament at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.
| Commonwealth Games record | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | GP | W | L | T | NR | ||
 1998 |
Group stage | 6/16 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 0 Title | 1/1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
See also
- Barbados Cricket Association (BCA)
- Barbados Tridents
- List of international cricketers from Barbados
- Sport in Barbados
- List of Barbadian representative cricketers
