Cricket

Impressive. First-class. Exceptional. These adjectives, and more, were used by cricket aficionados to describe St Lucia’s state-of-the-art Beau-se-jour Stadium attending the 2nd Cable & Wireless Internationals between the West Indies and New Zealand last year.

West Indies captain Carl Hooper remarked at a news conference: “I am very impressed by what I have seen at this ground and it is good to see that they are willing to spend this kind of money to bring this ground up to the required standard. This facility is right up there with others I have seen.” New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said: “As a player, when you look at a ground one of the first things you examine is the playing surface and the outfield. This one looks like something from the top drawer. Add the appearance of the stands and it all looks like a great facility. It is still in the early stages of its development, but everything seems to be in place for it to get better over a longer period of time.”