Olympic gold medallist to bowl to ‘Prince’ in T20 for 50

(Trinidad Express) Trinidad and Tobago’s Olympic javelin champion Keshorn Walcott will try his hand at cricket when he bowls to batting legend Brian Lara on the second day of the Twenty20 for 50 Cricket Festival at Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain on Saturday.

Teenager Walcott, who won the gold medal in the men’s javelin at the London 2012 games, will ceremoniously bowl the first ball of the innings to another famous son of the soil, Lara, who captains one of the four squads competing in the tournament, which is being held in commemoration of T&T’s 50th anniversary of Independence.

In a media release yesterday, the organisers said: “Fans will be treated to this symbolic interaction between the two men, both of whom have flown the red, white and black high, and brought international fame to themselves and to T&T, through their excellence in sport.”

The release added: “Keshorn is a most exciting addition to the line-up of distinguished patrons of the event, which includes Sir Garfield Sobers, Sports Ambassadors Dwight Yorke, Lara and Daren Ganga.”

Lara and Ganga will each captain an all-star team in the tournament which also features the T&T and Jamaica national teams.

The T20 for 50 will feature two games being played each day, the first at 2:30 p.m. and the second from 7 p.m. There will also be top local artistes performing between matches and tickets for the tournament cost $100 per day.

Trinidad and Tobago will be using the three-day tournament, which bowls off on Friday, as preparation for the Champions League T20, which takes place in South Africa in October.