Cricket legends honoured during Emancipation Cricket Festival in SVG

Over the last weekend, St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) pulled out all the stops in honouring the 12 living West Indies cricket legends from the inaugural 1975 Cricket World Cup.

Six of these legends, Sir Clive Lloyd, Sir Gordon Greenidge, Sir Andy Roberts, Deryck Murray, Alvin Kallicharran, and Collis King joined Vincentians here over the weekend at the invitation of this country’s Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves under the aegis of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves (right) and Michael Findlay (left) pose with 50th anniversary $50 stamps in honour of the 1975 West Indies Cricket Legends

The week was an eventful one as, beginning in Parliament on Monday, July 28, 2025, lawmakers passed a Bill conferring Vincentian citizenship on the surviving members of the team which won the 1975 Prudential World Cup.

Then on Saturday August, 2, 2025, the six legends who were present in SVG were invited to breakfast at the official residence of the Prime Minister where they were presented with the specifics of the citizenship offer. On that day, they also journeyed to the Arnos Vale Sports Complex where they interacted with male and female cricketers and aspiring cricketers as young as five years old.

On Sunday, August 3, 2025, the six legends were back at the Prime Minister’s official residence for lunch where it was revealed that the images of Sir Clive Lloyd, Sir Gordon Greenidge, Sir Andy Roberts, Deryck Murray, Alvin Kallicharran, and Collis King, along with local cricket greats Michael Findlay and Winston Davis were placed on commemorative $50 stamps to recognise the 50th anniversary of their achievement.

On Sunday night, the double decker stand at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex was renamed “The Legends Pavilion during the innings break of the finals of the Emancipation Cricket Festival (ECF).

Speaking at the event on Sunday, Minister of Culture, Carlos James, said it was an honour to be able to pay homage to some of the greatest talents that ever crossed the Atlantic, and some of the most talented athletes to ever exist on planet earth.

He said these players came out of an era of emancipation and colonization to a period of a new Caribbean identity.

He said when Prime Minister Gonsalves mentioned a few months ago that he wanted to do something special for the legends, the idea of honouring the men and the Emancipation Cricket Festival (ECF) was born and made possible through collaboration with several entities including through the Ministry of Sports with Minister, Orando Brewster.

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