Cricket in the West Indies
In the sport of cricket, the West Indies is a sporting confederation of fifteen mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries and territories, many of which historically formed the British West Indies. It consists of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States Virgin Islands. The governing body for the confederation is Cricket West Indies (CWI), which is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC); beneath the CWI are six territorial governing bodies covering different nations and regions of the confederation. The CWI organises the West Indies cricket team, which represents the confederation in international cricket, as well as administering domestic cricket competitions across the West Indies. The West Indies cricket team, nicknamed "The Windies", are one of the twelve Test cricket teams, having gained Test status in 1928. They were considered amongst the strongest Test teams from the 1960s, ushering a golden age in which they were undisputed champions for the latter part of the 1970s to the mid 1990s. In One Day International cricket, they have won the World Cup twice and the ICC Trophy once. They have also won the World Twenty20 twice. Domestic competitions organised across the whole of the West Indies include the Regional Four Day Competition (First-class), the Regional Super50 (List A) and the Caribbean Premier League (Twenty20). Cricket is also played in other Caribbean territories such as the Cayman Islands, who are associate members of the ICC, whilst the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Belize, Suriname and Cuba are affiliate members. As such, these territories do not form part of the West Indies for cricketing purposes, and field their own separate national teams. Originally introduced to the West Indies by British soldiers, cricket's popularity spread to the black population and it is traditionally considered one of the most popular team sport in the West Indies and a major part of West Indian culture, although others sports such as association football and basketball have challenged its popularity since the 1990s. Major international cricket competitions hosted by the West Indies include the 2007 World Cup and the 2010 World Twenty20. History Origin Cricket originally spread to the West Indies via the British military. Military officials established cricket clubs, including the St. Annes Garrison Club, and integrated cricket pitches into garrisons in the Caribbean. The first known reference to cricket in the West Indies is believed to be from June 1806, in the Barbados Mercury and Bridgetown Gazette. Two years later, a cricket match was held between the officers of the Royal West Indies Rangers and the officers of the Third West India Regiment. It is believed that the military was a major influencing force behind the drive to begin playing cricket porting this, there were known to be cricket pitches located in many garrisons all around the Caribbean. Expansion of cricket During the period of colonial rule, cricket began