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The Leeward Islands Cricket Board (LICB) is set to host its first three-day tournament in a little over a decade. 

This is according to CEO, Peter Abraham, who said the tournament will be held between February 18th and March 4th with St. Kitts & Nevis as joint hosts, marking the first time that teams within the sub-region will compete for the three-day title since 2012. 

“It’s going to be the first three-day tournament I think we’ve had in over a decade and we’re playing it at a time where the CWI championship [Four Day] will be on a break so it will allow the selectors to see new talent coming through to pick them both in the franchise and for the remaining games so we’re quite excited. The one-day component will come down in October prior to the Super 50,” he said.  

Abraham explained that preparations are in full swing for the tournament that will be held within a five-week window when the CWI Championship breaks but added that LICB is still on the hunt for a major sponsor. 

“We have a few potential leads we are touching base with right now but given the current state of the economy and businesses rebounding and we have a few potential persons where we always get small sponsors but we are looking at getting a title sponsor for the tournament in the near future. We are also cognizant of the current state of the economy within the Leeward Islands at the moment,” he said.  

The CEO also revealed there are long-term plans for the staging of a LICB T20 tournament. 

“That has been discussed internally by the board so there are actually plans and we’re just working through fine details but that is a future plan for us right now. What we also have in front of us is a Cool & Smooth tournament that we are in partnership with Cool & Smooth to ensure that the tournament only gets better and better,” Abraham said. 

Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, St. Kitts, Nevis, British Virgin Islands (BVI), Montserrat, St. Maarten, and the US Virgin Islands (USVI) are expected to take part in the tournament. 

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Two US Air Force F-22 fighter jets on Saturday shot down the Chinese spy balloon that had floated clear across America’s airspace — eight days and more than 4,000 miles after it first breached the US border.

“I want to compliment our aviators who did it,” President Biden told reporters as he cheered the downing en route to Camp David.

The two planes, both based at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Vir., circled the surveillance craft as it neared the coast of South Carolina, while the Federal Aviation Administration shut down three airports in North and South Carolina and closed the airspace over Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Wilmington due to “national security initiatives.”

Once the balloon had floated a safe distance into the Atlantic, one of the F-22s took aim with a single AIM-9X missile, a senior military source said.

The supersonic, heat-seeking, air-to-air projectile hit its mark at 2:39 p.m. about 7 miles off the shore of Myrtle Beach.

REUTERS

REUTERS

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REUTERS

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The huge white orb – as large as three school buses, experts said – deflated in a puff of white smoke, its remains trailing behind as its heavy solar panels and surveillance equipment plunged down into the sea below.

US Navy and Coast Guard vessels secured a perimeter to allow “capable Navy divers” and unmanned vessels to recover the debris, which came to rest in about 47 feet of water, officials said.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed the Chinese craft “was being used by the PRC in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States.”

“Today’s deliberate and lawful action demonstrates that President Biden and his national security team will always put the safety and security of the American people first,” Austin said.

Local airports resumed normal operations about an hour after the balloon went down, the FAA said.

Officials in Horry County, S.C., warned locals to steer clear of any debris that washed up on local beaches, and to notify authorities if they spot any remnants, which will be part of a federal investigation.

Dexter Roberts, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Asia Security Initiative, said the spy balloon saga came as the relationship between the United States and China hit “one of its lowest points in many years.”

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Social media is flooding with messages of condolences to the family of the late Ivor Ford who died last night.

“What a man loved his country and his constitution. R.I.P Ivor Ford, you will be missed”, wrote talk show host Daren Ward on his Facebook page.

UPP Senator Shawn Nicholas wrote “today, I lost one of my proudest and loudest cheerleaders, Ivor Bernard Ford. So much I could say about this man. Though diminutive in frame, his stature was larger than life. Rest in peace, my friend”

A close family friend wrote, “I glimpsed him a few times on the road and said, he is up and around. January 18th one of his relatives mentioned to me that he was in the hospital.

So sorry to learn of his passing,”.

Ford had a long and distinguished stint in public service before retiring.

After retirement, he continued his contribution by serving as a commentator on several national issues.

Ford was a regular voice on various shows on Observer media.