BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - CRICKET fans in St. Kitts and Nevis will be disappointed following the announcement that no games in the ICC 2024 T20 World Cup, to be played in the Caribbean and the United States of America, will be staged in the Federation.
This comes as local government officials did not apply to be considered as one of the venues for the mega event, even as the International Cricket Council had expanded the tournament to more teams resulting in more matches.
Bids opened early last year and, according to cricket sources, there were several opportunities that saw the organizers reopening the window for St. Kitts and Nevis to apply on several occasions, but the Government failed to do so.
So, why no bid?
That question was posed to the subject Minister, Samal Duggins, who explained that the Warner Park Cricket Stadium was not in a suitable condition to host the tournament.
“It is not a case that St. Kitts and Nevis dropped the ball, but what is not said, overall, is what is required to host an ICC World Cup. And the way we met our facilities and the conditions that they were in coming into office last year, and the short timeframe that would have been required to be compliant for World Cup standard, it was just too short of a timeframe,” explained Duggins.
It was against that backdrop the Minister noted that “we had to settle for what we got”.
Venue maintenance has been a topic that the Minister has been focused on for the last year, noting that some of the venues were not in proper condition, with the Kim Collins Athletics Stadium being the prime example - with seats falling apart and the track cracking and peeling.
But the President of the St. Kitts Cricket Association, Dennis Phillip, noted that the Federation did not submit a bid despite there being numerous opportunities.
He told reporters that the Cricket Association is “disappointed”, adding, “It is a hard swallow for us. We had encouraged both the Minister and the Prime Minister to at least bid. We had several openings in terms of reopening the bid process beyond the deadline period, which we would have been involved with with CWI, and it is unfortunate that we are not part of it.”
Concerns for some is that the Government has dropped the ball even as it continues to push Sports Tourist initiative.
“Hopefully, we may end up with some practice games here in St. Kitts. But, of course, the level of economic activity being generated by the World Cup would have of course done well for St. Kitts and Nevis,” Phillip said in response to a question from SKNVibes News.
Meanwhile, Minister Duggins noted that the “World Cup is a dynamic series of events, and we will definitely see some events here in St. Kitts. While we may not have the structured matches as some may want, we will see some activities here in St. Kitts and Nevis”.
