Guyana Cricket Board president (GCB) Chetram Singh said yesterday he has alerted the various competition committees about the opportunity provided by the recent good weather to get an early start to the domestic season.
In an interview conducted yesterday Singh said:”We have not had any cricket in January and February for the last two years, and although we cannot predict the weather, the year has started with very promising weather for cricket. We do anticipate a lapse in the local competition during Cricket World Cup (CWC) so an early start is to everyone’s benefit.”
In anticipation of the upcoming regional under-15 competition usually scheduled around Easter, Singh said: “we have asked the counties to start preparing their teams, since we use the inter-county competition to select the national teams.”
As regards sponsorship, the president said:”we have started initial contact with some of our sponsors, our marketing arm is currently preparing budgets to obtain sponsorships for all our local competitions.”
Singh said also that the success of the Shapooji-Pallonji Twenty20 nation-wide competition, coupled with the fantastic performance of the Guyana team in the excellently promoted Stanford Twenty20 competition boosted interest in cricket and was an indication that this format was here to stay, and that an annual nation-wide Twenty20 cricket competition is necessary.
Singh, who is also chairman of the cricket subcommittee for the Local Organizing Committee of CWC, said he was confident that all of the discrepancies cited by the International Cricket Council (ICC) Venue Assessment Team (VAT) had been already corrected – the pitch angle had been adjusted and the sight screen below the media centre enlarged, while Shapoorji-Pallonji and Terra Firma had been busy on the pitch and outfield.
“The practice pitches are in, the all-weather pitch has been cast and the run-ups are now being grassed, so from a cricket operations standpoint we will be ready.”
He also disclosed that because of the visit of the ICC’s VAT on February 6, the regional four-day Carib Beer match against Barbados which was scheduled from February 5 to 8 had been shifted to the Bourda ground and only the KFC one-day match on February 10 will be played at the new national stadium.
The local Carib Beer and KFC matches are scheduled as follows: In round four Guyana versus Leeward Islands at Albion in Carib Beer action from January 28 to 31. The KFC fixture between the same two teams will also be played at Albion on February 2.
In round five, Guyana versus Barbados at Bourda from February 5 to 8 in the Carib Beer clash and the KFC one-day match, also against Barbados, is scheduled for the Providence Stadium.
