Kensington Oval Pre 2005 was a cozy 14,500 seater, completely enclosed cricket stadium consisting of five stands, two player’s pavilions and a media centre.Most of the stands at the oval were adorned with the names of some of the sons of the soil who made their names popular in the regional and international cricket world.
The Challenor Stand
Namely the Challenor Stand which carried the name of one of the finest batsmen in Test Cricket George Challenor. George was referred to as West Indies’ first great batsman.
The Hall and Griffith Stand
The Hall and Griffith Stand adorns the names of one the world’s most lethal fast bowling pairs to ever graced a cricket field. This honor bestowed on none other than Sir Wes Hall and Sir Charlie Griffith known to be a destructive pair of fast bowlers that placed fear in many batsmen’s hearts whenever they ran up to deliver some of their most venomous deliveries.
The Worrell, Walcott and Weekes Stand
The Worrell, Walcott and Weekes Stand adorn the names of the game’s most prolific middle order batsmen ever. Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Clyde Walcott and Sir Everton Weekes occupied the numbers 3-5 in the West Indies middle order and they all successfully contributed to the West Indies team as they came in to the team at a time when West Indies Cricket was still trying to find its feet, with the West Indies only having one notable international contributor at the time in George Headley.
The Greenidge and Haynes Stand
The Greenidge and Haynes Stand also known as the Kensington Stand adorned the names of a formidable pair of batsmen who knocked the shine off the new ball; hitting the ball to all parts of the stadium. Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes were considered in there time to be one of the top five opening pairs in world cricket.
The Mitchie Hewitt Stand
The Mitchie Hewitt Stand adorned the name of one of Barbados’ journalist who was instrumental in increasing the bases of cricket. Through the implementation of the Barbados Cricket League which was formed to cater to cricketers whose chances to bring their talents to the forefront in cricket, did not depend on the school they attended or their social class. This league was considered the friendly cricket association which was dedicated to bring political and socio-economic change to cricket in the 1930’s.
The Peter Short Media Centre
The Peter Short Media Centre adorned the name of a man of many disciplines Captain of the armed forces, cricketer, administrator and sports journalist. Captain Short was a former President of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) and West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and a WICB representative on the International Cricket Council (ICC). Captain Short was also a cricket commentator for twenty two (22) years from 1957 to 1979 covering every first-class and test match at Kensington.
