In what has become a tradition over the past few years, the annual Canada-based Tranzac Cricket Academy tour to Guyana has been cancelled for 2020.
This is according to Guyanese-born coach of the academy, Sheriff Bodhoo who explained that the political situation provided the first hurdle and was followed up by him falling ill.
Despite being ill, Bodhoo said he was willing to travel with the team and parents but with the airports shutting down due to the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, that was no longer an option.
“Yes the tour has been canceled for this year, the reason being two fold, first the unstable environment due to the elections was one then I was not well and the doctors recommended I don’t travel, but I was willing to risk it and come along with some parents however the coronavirus forced the airports to shut down,” he said.
Bodhoo added that the team had already booked their tickets and were expected to spend two weeks in Guyana during the Easter vacation. He also noted that all necessary plans were already in place to accommodate them in Guyana including hotels, organization of matches and tours.
The youth side was expected to play 11 games across the country with a number of administrators using the matches to aid in scouting potential players who are eligible to represent their county in the Guyana Cricket Board under-19 inter-county tournament. The coach reckoned that the cancellation is a major disappointment since the players looked forward to the annual feature on their seasonal calendar and have helped in giving their players exposure to different conditions.
“We had everything ready this year and even more matches for the boys, it’s a huge disappointment we wouldn’t be able to come…even if we were to push it back into the summer it may be uncertain because the school system is also affected here and we are uncertain as to when things will return to normal,” Sheriff said.
