BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-PREPARATIONS for the first round of ICC World Twenty20 women’s matches to be held in St. Kitts from May 5-10 are right on schedule following approval of ground preparations by ICC officials on Tuesday (Jan. 19).
The nine man team visited the cricketing grounds at St Pauls, Molinieux, Cayon, Conaree, and the Len Harris Cricket Academy where the warm up matches for the eight competing teams will be held. The team also visited the Warner Park Cricket Stadium, where the international matches will be played.
According to a release from the local organizing committee, “the team comprised of Andy Atkinson, ICC Pitch Consultant, and Deron Dixon, Regional Cricket Operations Manager, who both flew in to St Kitts for this assignment”.
“They were joined by Dave Connor, Myron James, and Orville Maynard from the Ministry of Sports; Ray John, Chairperson of Event Management Operations Centre, and James Kelly, local architect. Steve Saunders, Cricket Operations Officer, and Clement Ogarro, Corporate Communications Officer, both of the ICC Venue Office in St Kitts, also accompanied the team of inspectors.”
While on the four hour tour, the team inspected the pitches, buildings, accommodations and the general overlay of the facilities.
The local organizing team said that Atkinson was quite pleased with the state of the grounds, noting that “definite improvements were made in respect to all the venues” since their last visit in July.
One sticking point for the ICC official was the need to re-grass the field in Conaree, but Ministry of Sport officials reportedly assured that a “decent cover of grass” would be in place by the time of the tournament.
The two overseas officials departed the Federation yesterday (Jan. 20), exactly 100 days before the first match bowls off, to carry out a similar inspection in Guyana where some of the men’s matches are scheduled to be held.
Meanwhile, the local organizing committee has renewed its call for volunteers to assist during the much anticipated tournament.
Being the largest cricket event to be hosted in St. Kitts since the 2007 World Cup, the need for qualified persons working on the ground is great and members of the public interested in assisting are urged to visit the Local Venue Office at the Old Pavilion in Warner Park for more information.
