After nearly a two-year-long wait, the Guyana Cricket Board is pleased that Guyanese were treated to international cricket as tourists Pakistan battled the West Indies in two one-days at the Providence National Stadium on Sunday and Tuesday.
West Indies lost the first game miserably, but managed save face by levelling the series before departing for St Lucia to play out the remaining three matches there.
Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Secretary, Anand Sanasie, yesterday spoke with Stabroek Sport on tour preparations and future plans. He also expressed gratitude to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the Guyanese public for the support that the tour received.
Sanasie said that while they would have liked to “have had more time to prepare for the tour,” they managed to complete all the final touches including organising the warm-up match held at the historic Georgetown Cricket Club ground (GCC), Bourda, between a Guyana XI and the tourists, approximately nine days before the first game day.
He noted that the GCB was fully satisfied with the outcome of the games, along with the promotions which he said were “well executed.”
Sunday’s match attracted the larger crowd of the two days and despite the reality that cricket was once again being contested in Guyana without a single Guyanese player in the squad, a reality which infuriated the Guyanese public. The secretary lauded the Guyanese people for coming out in their numbers on Tuesday even though some spectators and cricket lovers strongly resented the outcome and withdrew their support for the second ODI.
Sanasie indicated that although Tuesday’s attendance was not as high as Sunday’s, tickets had still sold out for the Tuesday game. This, he said was loyalty shown by the cricket-loving citizens of the country. He also highlighted that the WICB was pleased with the Guyana leg of the tournament as it turned out beyond their expectations.
“Preparation for the teams and the tour was very hectic,” the secretary said. The board was able to successfully pull off the Inter-county U-15s, U-17s and U-19s, whilst working along with the WICB to have those various levels teams partake in their respective WICB Regional competitions played across the Caribbean, at the same time “putting things in place” for the preparations for the West Indies/Pakistan tour.
Plans are currently in the making for an upcoming mini tournament between members of the High Performance Centre (HPC), along with other countries to play in Guyana. This competition will be contested round-robin style and is scheduled to bowl off in mid August, lasting roughly two weeks.
With regards to the upcoming inaugural Caribbean Premier League, Sanasie stated that the GCB will only assist in this tournament if specially requested.
