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In an unlikely scenario, two Cubans will coach young West Indian cricketers at the new cricket academy at the American-funded St. George's University in Grenada.

Although cricket is not played on an organised basis in Cuba, Dr. Rudi Webster, director of the Shell Cricket Academy, said the Cubans would participate in the first three weeks of the initial programme.

The academy was officially launched at the university's True Blue campus on Monday night.

The first class comprises 24 West Indian players between the ages of 18 and 23 and lasts from May 15 to August 7.

'One of their baseball coaches will teach some of the fielding techniques and fitness methods used in Cuban baseball,' Webster said.

'A second Cuban, a doctor in sports medicine, will help our players to sharpen their eyesight and concentration.'

Webster said training methods from other sports could improve cricketers' skills in specific areas.

'In spite of its limited resources, Cuba has had more success in sport than just about any other country in the world,' he said in explaining why the academy had looked to the communist island-nation for assistance.

Webster said the Cuban connection was made through Dr. Peter Bourne, the university's vice-chancellor, a former adviser to president Jimmy Carter, who has close contacts with the Castro regime.

The cricket academy, a joint venture between St. George's and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), is being sponsored by Shell, the multinational oil company that is renewing its involvement in West Indies cricket.

It sponsored the first annual regional tournament, the Shell Shield, from 1966 to 1987.

The financial level of its sponsorship was not disclosed.

Webster, the 61-year-old Barbadian who already heads the university's Cricket Institute, said the Shell Academy would also invite past and present West Indian players to conduct special sessions with the participants.

Several of the great West Indian players of the past attended the launching ceremony, among them former Test captains Sir Garry Sobers, Clive Lloyd and Gordon Greenidge, batting legend Sir Everton Weekes, and fast bowler Curtly Ambrose.

In a symbolic naming of the academy, Ambrose sent down two balls to Lloyd in the practice nets no more than a cricket ball throw away from the ocean.

Grenadian Prime Minister Keith Mitchell headed a list of distinguished guests at the launching, including members of his cabinet, Barbados' Opposition Leader, David Thompson, and directors of the WICB, who were in Grenada for a board meeting.

© The Barbados Nation