Gros Islet, St Lucia: Hundreds of eager St Lucian cricket fans crowded the Digicel Store at the corner of Bridge and Micoud Streets in Castries yesterday afternoon to get autographs and take photographs with some of their favourite West Indies players.

Ramnaresh Sarwan, vice captain Denesh Ramdin, pacers Jerome Taylor and Ravi Rampaul and rookie batsman Darren Bravo were on hand for well over an hour interacting with fans, taking advice from them and presenting prizes and gifts to the winners of various Digicel competitions.

There was a spontaneous competition where persons were asked to answer questions posed by the players in order to win tickets to the Third and Fourth Digicel One Day Internationals at the Beausejour Cricket Grounds today and Sunday.

The fans and the players in particular thoroughly enjoyed this aspect of the event which proved to be lots of fun.
Winners of prizes on radio shows were surprised that the players were on hand in person to hand over Digicel gift baskets packed with Digicel paraphernalia and other cricket goodies. Miniature bats and team shirts, autographed by the West Indies team and Digicel backpacks formed some of the prizes while some winners received the highly prized autographed West Indies team photos.

The players seemed to have enjoyed the experience as much as the fans did, spending much more time with the fans than had been originally scheduled. The players travelled to the location immediately after an intense practice session at the Beausejour Cricket Ground. Word spread quickly in the city and fans – particularly school children – continued to stream into the store even after the players had left to return to the team hotel.