The team, headed by the ICC’s James Fitzgerald and including Vivian Brown and Andy Atkinson along with the ICC Twenty20 World Cup Project team member Gayle Alleyne, Carla Henry-Baker and Derron Dixon, wrapped up its final venue inspection of Guyana’s world-class facility yesterday.
Thumbs Up
“Well, first of all I want to say that we are happy to be back in Guyana because one of the legacies of the 2007 World Cup was this same stadium and now we are pleased to say that we are happy with what have seen over the past few days,” Fitzgerald said while addressing the local media yesterday.
Last July, an ICC inspection team made its first round of the facility after Guyana, along with Barbados and St Lucia were chosen to host the tournament.
That team had given the National Stadium the ‘thumbs-up’ although they did make a few recommendations.
All of the host venues for this year’s cricket showpiece event were built for the Caribbean’s hosting of the 2007 Cricket World Cup and this, the venue inspection crew believes, is a plus on their part.
Twenty/20 cricket is the flashier format of the game and is different from that of the other versions, test and one-day matches, and as such required a few changes.
Fitzgerald said that they were pleased that some of those recommendations were materializing.
“We have said to the authorities here that we want more TV’s in the media and players’ areas and so on.
“We have to make sure most importantly, that the media area is well up to pace because we expect like 150 – 200 journalists here.
“This is the first round, the opening and we have West Indies playing their two matches here and one is against England so that would be a big, big thing,” Fitzgerald declared.
Perfect Providence
Asked how important it was for the Providence Stadium to be in almost perfect shape given the fact that the tournament will bowl off here Fitzgerald said that this objective should not be limited to Guyana since it was important that the other venues be more than match ready.
“See, I really can’t say for the other venues because this is our first stop since it will all start here. But I believe that it’s not Guyana alone, I think that the other two host venues should make it just as important. See, like I said, it is much easier now than in 2007 because then they were now being built. Now, they have established it to the world and have made several changes based on our request last year, so I don’t see a problem, you know.
I think the tournament will be a success,” said Fitzgerald.
Football at Providence – strapline
Over the past week Atkinson has been working with local curators to bring the outfield and pitches at the stadium up to the required standards.
The Englishman, who has been working with the ICC for a number of years, said that even though a great amount of football has been played on the pitch (which was not the ideal thing to do) it should not be a problem as the repairs have already begun.
“You have to understand that a big stadium like this needs to have other events to make it viable. It’s not the ideal situation in having football playing here but it’s something that can be remedied.
“See, it (football) helps in the wear and tear on the pitch but it will recover over the period of time and that’s why we have all the other groundsmen here over the past couple of days working hard to get this facility up and running in time,” said Atkinson.
Security – strapline
The ICC officials said security was a big issue for any major tournament of this kind and disclosed that a security meeting next week in Barbados will go through the full details of the operations.
“Well yea, particularly in these times security would be a big concern. But like we said, next week, there will be a meeting about the security for the tournament, teams, spectators etc etera, but we are not at liberty to discus that at this moment, maybe after, a release would be made or something,” Fitzgerald noted.
Apart from the opening ceremony on April 30, the National Stadium at Providence will host two matches featuring the West Indies playing against an ICC associate qualifier and New Zealand facing Sri Lanka.
