As Guyana gears up to host five group stage matches and semi-final one of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup in June, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr. has said that he is not satisfied with the quality of fixtures allocated to Guyana.
The matches in Guyana begin on June 2 with West Indies taking on Papua New Guinea while there are matches on June 3 (Afghanistan vs Uganda), June 5 (Papua New Guinea vs Uganda), June 7 (New Zealand vs Afghanistan), June 8 (West Indies vs Uganda) with the final set for June 26.
Ramson was at the time addressing the media at a press conference held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
Questioned about his thoughts on the games awarded to Guyana, the Minister said that he is displeased about the quality of the games rather than the quantity allotted.
“I’m not satisfied with the games that were allocated to Guyana. We wanted big ticket games” he said.
While noting that it was unlikely for one venue to be awarded all the premier matchups, he questioned why Guyana couldn’t have gotten a few.
“We look to host these games to draw in visitors to the country and large crowds. We knew what were the likely outcomes in terms of numbers of games that we could have gotten”.
He stated that the ICC “has to be cognizant of the small size of the territories in the Caribbean and the impact that the hosting of games have on our countries”.
While upgrades were done last year at the Providence National Stadium ahead of the hosting of the Caribbean Premier League, the Minister revealed that following visits from Cricket West Indies (CWI) and ICC officials, more work will have to be done as all facilities at the stadium requires continuous maintenance. He specifically earmarked the dressing rooms to be worked on as they are not considered ‘modern’.
Questioned on the scale of investment needed for the additional upgrades ahead of the World Cup, Ramson revealed that whatever expenditure is needed now is scaled down because “what will be done now is building on all we had done for CPL last year”.
The fixtures for the World Cup were confirmed on January 5 with the ICC revealing that a total of three venues in the USA and six in the Caribbean will be used.
A total of 41 matches will be played in the Caribbean across six different countries, with semi-finals slated for Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana with the final scheduled for Barbados on 29 June.
The tournament bowls off on June 1 with co-hosts USA taking on neighbours Canada, while fellow hosts, West Indies, play Papua New Guinea in Guyana on the second day of group play.
The World Cup will see the 20 teams split up into four groups consisting of five teams each, with the top two sides from each group progressing to the Super Eight stage of the tournament ahead of the semi-finals and final.
Co-hosts USA are in Group A along with powerhouses India and Pakistan, as well as Canada who make their first appearance at the event in addition to Ireland.
Group B consists of the last two winners of the Men’s T20 World Cup in England and Australia, who will take on Namibia, Scotland and Oman.
West Indies are placed into Group C alongside New Zealand, Afghanistan, Uganda and Papua New Guinea, while Group D pits South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands and Nepal against each other.
