GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Guyana and Leeward Islands had to settle for a no-result, when rain and a soaked outfield forced play to be abandoned without a ball being bowled for the fourth straight day in their second round match of the WICB Regional first-class championship yesterday.
The condition at the Bourda Oval remained unplayable, after an overnight and early morning deluge again assaulted the sodden outfield at the ground.
Umpires Clyde Duncan from Guyana and Vincent Bullen from Barbados again had the luxury of putting the two sides out of their misery even before the scheduled start.
The result meant that both teams earned three points to take Guyana to seven, and the Leewards to three. Leewards host Combined Campuses & Colleges at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua in the third round, when the Guyanese will travel to St. Vincent to face Windward Islands at the Arnos Vale Multiplex. The two sides have responded differently to this setback so early in the season, since they were both coming off first-round defeats, and were looking to rebound with a win.
Leewards manager Percy Daniels disclosed that his side was ready to leave Guyana after the first day was abandoned.
“The drainage at Bourda is not the best in the World, and there was a lack of the type of equipment and manpower needed to facilitate play after so much water was on the ground,” he said.
“With the weather forecast not promising, we knew from the first day that it would have been very hard to have any cricket.”
He added: “Our coach even sent an e-mail to the Leewards Board to try and get us to Antigua where we could have had some turf practice. “We lost our first game in three days so since last week Sunday we have had no cricket except for three practice sessions at the indoor nets here and the artificial pitch is a lot different from the turf pitch.”
Guyana manager Carl Moore stated however, that his side got a chance to work on their mental approach to the game.
“We had practice sessions at the indoor facility at the Chetram Singh Centre of Excellence, and the time indoors gave us more time to work on the mental aspects of our game as we prepare to head to St. Vincent for this weekend’s clash,” he said.
“Being together as a team with no cricket to play has given us a chance to look at several areas of our game and the coach has been working hard with the mental aspects of the cricket, so I think we should be both physically and mentally ready when we come up against the Windwards.”
Since the construction of the National Cricket Stadium in Providence on the outskirts of the Guyana capital, international matches are no longer contested at Bourda Oval, but local authorities have tried to keep Bourda in commission with regional matches.
The stadium was however, unavailable because of an event booked prior to the publication of the fixtures by the West Indies Cricket Board.
