By Tamica Garnett
With the first half rapidly coming to a close, the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) is bracing itself for a packed second half which will feature participation by representative national teams in the regional Twenty20, Under-19 and women’s tournaments.
This was disclosed by GCB executives at a press conference on Friday at the GCB boardroom on Regent Street.
The West Indies Cricket Board has scheduled its first regional Twenty20 tournament for July 22-31.
Initially, Guyana and Barbados were identified to host matches under floodlights and televised live throughout the Caribbean.
But GCB president Chetram Singh on Friday stated that Guyana will be unable to stage any preliminary matches since the Guyana National Stadium at Providence has been booked for the period July 18-30 for the staging of the NA CRA rugby tournament.
“I spoke to the rugby people, the Minister and the Stadium Manager but since rugby is also important and we (GCB) were not aware that a Regional Twenty/20 tournament would have been played in July until recently, there was nothing that could be done to facilitate our request to use the Stadium,” the GCB box explained.
The winner of the regional Twenty20 team will represent the West Indies at the Champions League Club tournament.
However, the national Under-19 team preparing for the regional competition in St Lucia from July 8-31 will be encamped from next Tuesday at the Chetram Singh Centre of Excellence at La Bonne Intention. The encampment will end on July 4.
The GCB boss also disclosed that a request from Trinidad and Tobago for a female &Under-19 team and an Under-17 male team to tour Guyana in July would not be possible because of the encampment of the respective national teams.
Singh, however revealed that the GCB would look at that possibility during the latter part of August.
And the national female team, preparing for the Women’s senior regional Tournament in St Vincent and the Grenadines from August 10-19 will also be encamped at the hostel from July 24-August 8.
The GCB has until July 15 to name the 16-member squad from the shortlist of 27 players.
