Grenada’s Prime

Minister, Dr Keith Mitchell, has praised his country’s support for last

Sunday’s One-Day International and believes crowd turnout will be even bigger

with the installation of lights at the Grenada National Stadium.

Speaking

during the contest which West Indies won by five wickets to complete a 3-0

series whitewash, Mitchell said the match would have seen even larger numbers

had it not been staged on a Sunday when the “religious community” was otherwise

engaged.

“The turnout

is clearly to me an example of the interest Grenadians have in cricket,”

Mitchell said.

“It is

well-known that Ireland is not considered one of the top teams. The fact that

we have this turn out for a game of this nature on a Sunday, without a top team

in world cricket playing West Indies, I think is a clear demonstration of how

Grenadians feel about cricket in general and West Indies cricket.”

The ODI was

the third at the venue over the last 12 months, following the doubleheader

against England last February, as part of the five-match series.

Prior to the

doubleheader, however, Grenada had not hosted a white-ball game in nearly five

years and international cricket since 2015.

Mitchell, a

former chairman of CARICOM’s Prime-Ministerial subcommittee on cricket and an

avid fan, said he expected the marketability of the stadium to be further

enhanced once lights were installed in the future.

“I think one

of the things you will see in the future with the advent of the lighting of the

facility [is increased turnout],” Mitchell pointed out.

“… if we had

lights, [the ODI] would have started about 1:30 p.m. and gone into the evening

and you would’ve seen an even bigger crowd, and the T20 game on Wednesday would

have started at 7 p.m. and gone on for four hours – imagine the entertainment.

“With the

love for this facility and the country, the entertainment involved and the

people, I think you will see a lot of good cricket matches here in the future.”