PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Regional cricketers from Barbados, Jamaica and the Windward Islands were forced to sleep on the corridors of the Cascadia Hotel on Carnival Tuesday after arriving here from Guyana on an early morning flight and being unable to check in. CMC Sports understands that the five teams – Barbados, Windward Islands, Guyana, Jamaica and the Leewards Islands – left their respective hotels in Guyana at 2 am on Tuesday following the end of the fifth round of WICB regional first class matches on Monday. After arriving here at 8 am, Guyana were taken to the National Cricket Centre while the Leewards were transported to the Sportel Inn, but Jamaica, Barbados and the Windwards were forced to wait until 2 pm before they could check into the Cascadia Hotel. “The players were tired after getting up so early in the morning to leave Guyana,” said one team official who spoke under condition of anonymity. “If this was not bad enough they arrived in Trinidad and had to wait until the afternoon to get a bed to take a rest.”
The official said he was displeased with the arrangements and criticized the West Indies Cricket Board for inconveniencing the players.
“We were forced to contact authorities at the WICB after we realised what was taking place. There was also a situation where three players were booked in one room and that was not appropriate. We got it sorted out finally,” the official said. “The Board expects these players to give off their best but they are not putting the players needs first. We need to make the players comfortable and this is our main regional tournament and this is not acceptable.” The Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board said they had not been responsible for making the bookings and contended the WICB had been informed not to land the teams on Carnival Tuesday.
General manager of the Cascadia Hotel, Barry Bidaisee said the teams had been forced to wait because normal hotel policy dictated a 3 pm check in.
“The teams did arrive early at the hotel and had to wait until the afternoon to be checked in because that is the normal check in time. We provided a full buffet breakfast and lunch for the teams and most of them were just hanging around the hotel,” Bidaisee explained.
“I did not notice any of the players sleeping on the corridors but then again I was not there all the time.”
The penultimate round of matches in the WICB regional tournament bowls off here today.
