President of the Guyana Cricket Board Bissoondyal Singh yesterday lamented the poor turnout of spectators for the Guyana leg of the current tour of the West Indies by India and suggested that the cost of tickets might have been responsible for the low turnout.
In an invited comment the GCB president said of the turnout for the second and Third T20 Internationals held at the Providence National Stadium..”It was average and could be better, possibly sold out.” Following victory over the India team minus Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the first T20 Internationals in Trinidad and Tobago the two teams travelled to Guyana for the second and third T20I where interest was at an all time high especially following the West Indies team’s poor performances in the preceding Ttest and One Day series.
With the West Indies winning the second T20 hopes for high for a series win for Rovman Powell and his maroon boys.
However, their hopes were dashed after India rebounded to take the third handsomely mainly through the efforts of Surayakumar Yadav with a pulsating innings of 83.
While the attendance figures for the second and third T20 Internationals are not known, Singh suggested that the cost of tickets might have been responsible for the low turnout.
“It had a lot to do with the cost for the tickets,” he declared adding…”GCB had nothing to do with the fixing of the prices.
“Solely the responsibility of Cricket West Indies as it relates to ticket prices,” he said. aThe reported prices for the matches at Providence were $5000 for the Green and Red Stands, $4000 for the Orange Stand, $2000 for the Mound and $1000 for car passes. Singh reiterated that the low turnout was indeed “price driven” and said..”There is the Commercial Department that deals with prices, and so the CWI local directors were not involved.”
