THE ANNUAL Milo/Melbourne festival takes place at Melbourne Oval, Derrymore Road, today and with two matches scheduled, a couple of the game's greatest players and some of Jamaica's best will be on show.Once again cricket fans should enjoy a day of exciting and entertaining action.
The action gets under way at 9.30 with Courtney Walsh's XI up against Jimmy Adams' XI in a 35 overs-a-side contest and at 3.30 it will be Entertainers versus Celebrities in a 15 overs-a-side affair.
Apart from Walsh the world's leading wicket-taker with 519 wickets, and Adams - who was once ranked the No. 1 batsman in the world and who boasts a Test top score of 208, Curtly Ambrose - the fast bowler who ended a brilliant career with 405 wickets and who destroyed Australia at Perth in 1993 with a devastating spell of seven wickets for one run in 32 deliveries, will also be in action - and so too Shazam Babwah of Trinidad and Tobago.
Babwah was the batsman who, after going to bat at 43 for five, after his team was struggling at 47 for seven, smashed 103 not out off 99 deliveries against the Windward Islands at Kensington Park in the recently concluded Red Stripe Bowl limited-overs tournament.
The other players on parade include not only West Indies representatives Gareth Breese and David Bernard Jnr., not only Jamaica reps Brenton Parchment, Keith Hibbert, Matthew Sinclair, Donovan Pagon, Maurice Kepple and Andrew Richardson, but in batsmen Shawn Findlay, Danza Hyatt and Tamar Lambert, pace bowlers Evon McInnis and Krishmar Santokie, also some of the country's most promising and exciting talent.
In the Entertainers versus Celebrities match featuring coloured clothes, white balls and black sightscreens, the entertainers testing their skills with bat and ball include Captain Barkey, Wayne Marshall, Powerman, Elephant Man, Snaggy Pus, Lexus, Escobar and probably also Beenie Man.
The Celebrities XI will include not only Walsh but also former Jamaica and West Indies batsman Maurice Foster, David Bernard Snr. - former Jamaica football representative and now trainer of the national cricket team, Peter Moses, and Dr. Akshai Mansingh.
The teams: Adams' XI (from): Adams, Ambrose, Parchment, Findlay, Breese, Bernard Jnr., Hibbert, McInnis, Hyatt, Santokie, Kevin Kelly, Andre Dwyer and Yanick Elliott.
Walsh's XI (from): Walsh, Babwah, Sinclair, Kepple, Richardson, Pagon, Lambert, Ray Stewart, Aubrey Wollaston, Llewelyn Meggs, Ramon Hutchinson, Leon Bent and Nikita Miller.
Entertainers (from): Captain Barkey, Wayne Marshall, Powerman, Elephant Man, Snaggy Pus, Wickerman, Lexus, Dugsie Ranks, Kiprich, Megabanton, L. A. Lewis, Escobar, Wee Pow, Billy Slaughter, Beenie Man, Mad Cobra and Spragga Benz.
Celebrities (from): Walsh, Foster, Bernard Snr., Moses, Mansingh, Clive 'Busy' Campbell, Andrew Pryce, Carl Stephenson, Steve Brown, Tym Glaser, Rohan Daley, Francois St. Juste, Audley Boyd, Horace Helps and Oral Tracey.
Added attractions include a gate prize, raffle and music by Stone Love.
Admission: Grounds $150, downstairs clubhouse - $300, upstairs clubhouse - $500.
