Jamaica defeated hosts Barbados to win the first ever ‘Regional Blind Cricket Championship’, recently.

In the finals, played at the Carlton Sports Club, Jamaica made 196 for five wickets from 27.1 overs in reply to the Barbados total of 192 for seven from their allotted 35 overs. "It was worked out, it was planned, we just did to Barbados what had to be done to make us champions," said the winning coach Vivalyn Lattie-Scott.

Teams from Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Windward Islands competed in the first regional championship. The 40-Over tournament was used as a platform to select seventeen players for a West Indies team that will represent the country at the Blind Cricket World Cup to be played in September this year.

Jamaica will host the second West Indies Blind Cricket tournament next year.

Meanwhile, preparations are on for the ‘Blind Cricket World Cup’. Pakistan Blind Cricket Association will host the event from December 3-16, 2006 in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. West Indies’ makes its debut in the World Cup this year. Apart from West Indies, Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka, will play for the coveted title.

Pakistan Cricket Board has promised to provide them with necessary funds for hosting World Cup.