The Jamaica Franchise competing in the inaugural West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) professional four-day tournament finally has a name.
The franchise is expected to be called Jamaica Scorpions, according to a source close to the entity.
It is understood that the chosen name still needs to be ratified and registered, and the team's logo is to be patented.
Yesterday, Don Wehby, the chairman of the Jamaica Franchise board of directors, was contacted to confirm the naming, but he declined, saying "formalities are still pending".
Wehby, the GraceKennedy Group chief executive officer, told the Jamaica Observer that the official public announcement of the franchise name "is close", but he did not provide a date.
The 2014-15 season of the WICB Professional Cricket League (PCL), which began in November last year, will conclude later this month.
Guyana Jaguars, Barbados Pride, Trinidad & Tobago Red Force, Windward Islands Volcanoes and Leeward Islands Hurricanes started publicly using their franchise names months ago.
In December 2014, Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) president Wilford 'Billy' Heaven, the deputy chairman of the board for the franchise, told this newspaper that a strategic approach was being taken in the naming of the franchise.
At the time, Heaven said discussions were being sought with the United States-based Chalak Mitra Group (CMG), the franchise owners of Caribbean Premier League Twenty20 outfit Jamaica Tallawahs, to use that name. Apparently that move fell through.
Other directors sitting on the board of the Jamaica Franchise include Dennis Hickey, executive director of the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo); Wayne Sutherland, treasurer of the JCA; Dr Akshai Mansingh, a JCA director; and attorney-at-law Delano Franklyn.
The Jamaica Franchise are struggling in fourth place in the six-team standings and are virtually out of championship reckoning.
jamaicaobserver.com
