Slow progress for Windies before lunch on the 1st day of 5th test

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC



West Indies had limited success before lunch, after England chose to bat in the fifth and final Test on Friday.



At the interval, England were 74 for one in their first innings with their captain Andrew Strauss not out on 42 and Owais Shah was not out on 19 on the opening day at Queen’s Park Oval.



A depleted West Indies attack was greeted by another hard, true pitch, and failed to make the early inroads.



Embattled fast bowler Daren Powell, opening the bowling in the absence of injured compatriot Jerome Taylore, made the breakthrough, when he had Alastair Cook caught behind for 12 in the first hour of the morning.



But West Indies could make no significant headway following the departure of the England vice captain, as Strauss and Shah dropped anchor in the hour and 20 minutes they batted prior to lunch.



England made three changes to their side with Matt Prior, debutant Amjad Khan, and Monty Panesar replacing Tim Ambrose, Ravi Bopara, and Ryan Sidebottom.



West Indies made two changes, bringing Lendl Simmons and Lionel Baker in to replace Sulieman Benn and Jerome Taylor, who has an injured left ankle.



West Indies lead the five-Test series 1-0, following an innings and 23-run victory in the opening Test at Sabina Park in Jamaica, where they bowled England out for their third-lowest total in Tests of 51.



This was followed by the aborted second Test at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua, and drawn Tests at the Antigua Recreation Ground and Kensington Oval.



West Indies need only a draw to secure series victory over England for the first time in 11 years, and their first series victory over a side above them in the World rankings for six years.



Scotia Bank donates over $200,000 to Cancer Society



Scotiabank yesterday announced that it was donating $288,609 to the Jamaica Cancer Society to support their work in promoting breast cancer awareness and early screening in Jamaica.



In a release from the Bank, it said the donation is part of a regional initiative by Scotiabank to promote women’s issues and to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, 2009.



“Scotiabank has a long history of supporting the communities in which we live and work. We’re proud to present this donation to the Jamaica Cancer Society in support of the important work they do in Jamaica to raise awareness of breast cancer – an issue that is important to our employees and our customers,” Bruce Bowen, Scotiabank President and CEO said.



“International Women\'s Day celebrates the advancement of women around the world and reminds us of the work yet to be done,” said Sylvia Chrominska, Group Head of Global Human Resources and Communications, Scotiabank.



“As a global organization where women make up almost 70 per cent of our employees, we take a keen interest in women’s issues because these are topics of concern and interest to our employees, our communities and to our customers across the Scotiabank Group,” she added.





Barbadian parliament debates no confidence motion against PM



Robust debate opened in the Barbados parliament on Friday on a no confidence motion in the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance David Thompson, with Opposition Leader Mia Mottley raising suspicion over his conduct in Colonial Life Insurance Company (CLICO) debacle and calling on him to declare his interests in the company.



“The repeated failure of this Minister of Finance to disclose his interests and to declare his assets as we (the opposition) have done is what stands to condemn him today,” said Mottley, in leading off debate on the motion.



Mottley, who earlier declared assets of US$2,500 in the CLICO Balance Fund, further urged the Prime Minister to follow suit as she produced documents related to his involvement in the purchase of a private property at Martin’s Bay in the eastern parish of St. John.



“I want to know what else he has to disclose that might affect his decision making as Minister of Finance,” she said, while suggesting that he has been compromised on the matter of CLICO owing to his personal interests in the company.



She further suggested that Thompson should have recuse himself from the CLICO matter, while calling for a joint parliamentary committee to be given oversight powers, along with an independent Financial Services Commission.



The motion seeks to condemn the Minister of Finance for misleading the public of Barbados and failing to take “urgent and immediate action” to protect the almost 40,000 Barbados policyholders in CLICO against the backdrop of a bailout package announced by the Trinidad and Tobago government for CLICO’s parent company, CL Financial, at the end of January.



While local officials have sought to suggest that CLICO Holdings (Barbados) Limited is a separate and distinct entity from its parent company and that remains sound, Mottley argued that the troubles of the parent are indeed the troubles of the child.



Mottley, who is leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), further contended that the Prime Minister had failed to reveal the true state the company’s statutory fund deficit, which reportedly stood at close to US$25 million at the end of 2008.



However, Attorney General Freundel Stuart rejected the motion out of hand, describing it as “frivolous and vexatious”.



”I will be voting against it. My faith in the Minister of Finance remains in tact and I don’t believe that this House has heard anything… to justify a motion of no confidence in the Minister,” he said.



In the pre-lunch session of the debate, independent legislator and former BLP member of parliament Hamilton Lashley also said he would not support the motion, which comes at a most difficult time internationally.



He said he could find no fault with the way the Prime Minister, who came to a power here a year ago, was managing the Barbados economy.