The Managing Director of Fair Play Group of Companies including NAGICO Insurance, Quincy Gumbs, said he and his colleagues were delighted to be the sponsors of the Leeward Islands cricket tournament of one day matches.

He was at the time speaking at the Ronald Webster Park at the commencement of the September 12-21 competition involving teams from Antigua, St. Kitts, Nevis, British Virgin Islands, St. Maarten. And Anguilla. The national team played against Nevis and BVI in Anguilla on September 12 and 14 and travelled to St. Maarten on September 13 to take on that island’s team.
Mr. Gumbs said that in 1983 he and NAGICO’s General Manager in St. Maarten, Imran McSood Amjad, had undertaken to work together to improve cricket in both St. Maarten and Anguilla. As a result of that decision, they sponsored the NAGICO Cricket League in St. Maarten and introduced a one-day Cricket League in Anguilla. In addition, several financial incentives were given to individual players who scored more than 50 runs and took the most wickets in the series. He said those efforts had borne fruit with the eventual involvement of local businesses and the Leeward Islands Cricket Board in cricket on the island.
Mr. Gumbs stated that NAGICO Insurance had taken credit for the development of some of the Anguillian cricketers including players like Lanville Harrigan and Alex Adams. “Our interest, however, was not limited to Anguilla. We also contributed a lot to the local Cricket League in Dominica and the British Virgin Islands,” he noted. “Our sponsorship of the Leeward Islands one-day cricket matches is therefore a natural graduation of our interest in cricket from the grass-root levels. We remain committed to the sport in the sub-region and will do all that we can to bring the best out of our youngsters.
“At a time of budgetary constraints throughout this sub-region, NAGICO continues to regard the development of sports as a key ingredient in the direction of our youth, upon whose shoulders the expansion of our company depends. It is therefore fitting for me to appeal to you, the players, to approach the game with the seriousness, dedication and discipline required.”
Mr. Gumbs encouraged the cricketers to look beyond their individual islands as well as the sub-region and aspire to represent the West Indies Cricket Team which was continuing to hold the Caribbean together ‘as one nation’.
“Your success is the return for all of us in the region who make a personal investment in you,” he added. “I would also like to appeal to the fans to support the games throughout the sub-region for the fans are crucial to the rebuilding of cricket in the West Indies.”
Director of Sports, Alkins Rogers, and President of the Anguilla Cricket Association, Benjamin Hughes, were grateful to NAGICO Insurance for its sponsorship. Hughes said that for years the Leeward Islands had struggled to find a sponsor for its three-day and one-day tournaments. He added that a new era had begun with NAGICO coming forward to ensure that cricket prevailed in the sub-region and he looked forward to a long partnership.

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