Hazy conditions, 22 players, two umpires, one ball but no pitch to play on.
This was the shameful scenario yesterday at the famous Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground when Guyana and the Combined Campuses and Colleges turned up to battle for supremacy on the final day of their ninth round clash in the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) sponsored Regional four-day tournament.
CCC were set to resume their innings on 67-1 but could not do so up to 13:45hrs when the third official inspection was conducted by umpires Goaland Greaves, Dashroy Balgobin and Daverdeeth Anandjeet on a pitch which had seepages in three crucial areas, forcing the match to be abandoned at 14:00hrs.
Not much rain had fallen the night before for as is customary with that venue which was once our premiere cricket venue until the construction of the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, once there is lots of rain, a collection of water in various areas would have been the sore sight to the eyes of the teams and officials.
No doubt, the home team who were hunting their first victory in this year’s tournament must have left the venue in a depressed mood.
This time around, cricket fans cannot blame the team but the ground staff of the venue for the inept way in which they covered the pitch last night.
Apart from that, it was appalling to note that after four and a quarter hours and in conditions conducive to start a match, not even a ball had been bowled.
The question is who will take the blame for this mediocre performance by the ground staff at Guyana’s once famous venue?
The most that can be said now is ‘What a shame for Guyana’, especially at a time when we are preparing to host the West Indies and their opponents England for the first two limited overs internationals, even though the matches will be played at the Providence stadium, the fastest drying cricket venue in the Caribbean.
