Chris Gayle and Patrick Patterson to be honoured at annual tradition.
The UWI Regional Headquarters, Jamaica. Friday, July 13, 2018—Chris Gayle and Patrick Patterson will be honoured by The University of the West Indies (The UWI) during a 50-over match, that will see a UWI Vice-Chancellor’s XI team compete against the Bangladesh International touring team on Thursday July 19, 2018 at Sabina Park, Jamaica. Patterson, a Caribbean legend, has the reputation as one of the fastest, fiercest and dangerous pacemen of his time. Gayle, one of the leading cricket icons of this age, is described as the most destructive batsman of his generation in all forms of the game, and a captivating spirit of Windies and world cricket.
The 19th annual Vice-Chancellor’s XI Cricket Match hosted by The UWI—a tradition which celebrates the historic partnership between The University and the West Indies Cricket Board of Control (now Cricket West Indies)—bowls off at 2:00 p.m. (Jamaica time) and is free and open to the public.
West Indies Test players Chris Gayle, and Chadwick Walton (Captain) as well as UWI players O.J. Shields, Oshane Walters, Andre Russell, Amir Jangoo, Yannick Ottley, Jarlani Searles, Vikash Mohan, Nicholas Kirton, Kavem Hodge, Jermaine Levy and Gillon Tyson will comprise the Vice-Chancellor’s XI. Bangladesh, led by skipper, Shakib Al Hasan, will be preparing for their ODI and T20 Series against the West Indies and will use the match against the Vice-Chancellor’s XI as a warm-up game.
Gayle and Patterson will be honoured for their outstanding contributions to West Indies cricket as part of a longstanding highlight of the annual match. Previous honourees include Michael Holding, Sir Vivian Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Jeffrey Dujon, Desmond Haynes, Andy Roberts, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, to name a few.
Commenting on the initiative, Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, who was the initial project-leader of the Vice-Chancellor’s XI Match 19 years ago, and is wholly committed to the rebuilding of cricket and the advancement of Caribbean sport development, said, “Once again The UWI takes the opportunity of working with Cricket West Indies to celebrate the excellence of the peoples’ culture. We celebrate Mr Gayle, ‘World boss’ and living legend for his phenomenal productivity and creative performances. We honour Mr Patterson for the spark of brilliance he ignited in our cricket with his explosive genius. We uplift him this day and every day and hope to restore some of that which he gave us.”
Dean of The UWI Faculty of Sport, Dr Akshai Mansingh added further, “The Vice Chancellor’s XI matches have been integral in exposing young talent to international teams over the years. With the advent of a Faculty of Sport, we will build on this sort of initiative with developmental and talent search programmes in the region.”
Another special feature of the 2018 Vice-Chancellor’s XI Match will be the launch of The UWI Faculty of Sport’s “Pace Like Fire” initiative—a community outreach programme geared towards youth, between the ages of 16 and 22, with raw pace. Beginning August 8, a scouting team will embark on a regional tour to identify 15 players (10 males, 5 females). The players will be the beneficiaries of a comprehensive high performance programme at the Sagicor UWI Cricket High Performance Centre at The UWI Cave Hill Campus, for two years, to hone their talents. The University sees this exciting talent identification programme as part of its responsiveness to the needs of the cricketing region, and to advancing the West Indies’ journey back to the top of world cricket through the emergence of quality pace bowlers.
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Note to the Editor: More about the honourees and The UWI Vice-Chancellor’s Cricket Match below.
Chris Gayle
Considered by many to be the greatest batsman in limited-overs cricket, Chris Gayle has set records across all three formats of the game, but specifically in T20. He is one of only four players who have scored two triple centuries at Test level: 317 against South Africa in 2005, and 333 against Sri Lanka in 2010. Gayle became the first batsman in World Cup history to score a double-century, notching 200 off 138 balls against Zimbabwe during the 2015 tournament. He is one of the five players to score a double century in ODIs, and in March 2016, Gayle became only the second player (after Brendon McCullum) to hit two T20 hundreds, scoring 100 not out against England. Gayle plays domestic cricket for Jamaica, and also represents the Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League, and the Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Super League.
Patrick Patterson
Patrick Patterson is regarded as one of the most fearsome of West Indies fast bowlers. He took seven wickets on debut in 1986, against England. So devastating was his spell that seasoned England batsman Graham Gooch subsequently confessed to being “frightened” by the right-arm fast bowler. When Michael Holding was contemplating retiring from the sport in the summer of 1987, those in the West Indies cricket circle were not losing sleep on replacing him as the young, lanky fast bowler Patterson made his debut for Jamaica. With a father and grandfather who played district cricket themselves, Patterson acquired the right traits at an early age. Tales of the pace he generated at the time of release and off the turf (apparently inherited from his grandfather) travelled like a wildfire, even beyond the shores of the Caribbean islands. Before he donned the national colours in 1986, Patterson was already roped in by Lancashire in the English County Championship and Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield. Here was a bowler, they believed, who was on par with Holding and Marshall.
About The UWI Vice-Chancellor’s Cricket Match
The UWI Vice-Chancellor’s XI Cricket Match has been a tradition in regional cricket which celebrates the historic partnership between two tangibles of West Indian integration—The University of the West Indies and the West Indies Cricket Board of Control (WICB); now Cricket West Indies (CWI). It was the brainchild of the late Sir Frank Worrell; who as a student counsellor and administrator at The UWI’s Mona campus in the mid-1960s, customarily organised matches between touring test teams and combined staff-student teams of The UWI. In so doing, he set a precedent for a noble tradition of engagement between sport and scholarship, which The UWI is proud to continue. This is the 19th staging of this event, the first match being at Sabina Park in 1996 against the visiting New Zealanders. This partnership between the University and CWI continues to support the development of The UWI’s cricket programme while also recognising the contribution of West Indies’ cricketing legends.
About The UWI
For the past 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region. In 2018, The UWI celebrates its evolution from 1948 as a university college in Jamaica with 33 medical students to an internationally respected regional university with near 50,000 students. Today, The UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and an Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport. Its seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. The UWI has been a pivotal force in every aspect of Caribbean development; residing at the centre of all efforts to improve the well-being of our people. As the regional institution commemorates its 70th anniversary milestone, it will celebrate its students, faculty, administrators, alumni, governments, and partners in the public and private sector. The anniversary commemoration will focus on reflection as well as projection for the future with an emphasis on social justice and the economic transformation of the region. Website: www.uwi.edu and www.uwi.edu/70 . (Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)
