BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - WITH less than two weeks before the Caribbean Premier League bowls off in Barbados, preparations in St. Kitts are moving apace as Warner Park gets set to host 10 games in this year’s edition of the tournament and local organisers are hoping to maintain the standards set in 2014.
St. Kitts and Nevis was in the spotlight of the cricket world last year when it hosted the Semi-Final and Finals at the Warner Park Cricket Stadium, which was adjudged the best pitch and outfield for the tournament.
In an interview with SKNVibes, Minister of Sports the Hon. Shawn Ricard was confident of a successful leg being hosted in the Federation.
“Preparations for CPL are going quite well. We have a stadium agreement in place. The Local Organising Committee is working feverishly to ensure that all the necessary plans are in place and all the necessary issues are taken care of. And we are confident we will have a successful tournament in St. Kitts and Nevis.”
He was asked if the Warner Park Stadium would be able to live up to the standard set last season with the best pitch and outfield.
“What I can say to you is that one of the individuals who was involved in the preparation of the grounds last year has been retained to assist with the preparation of the grounds again this year. He is working along with the staff of the Ministry of Sports to ensure the grounds are up to standard.
“I cannot guarantee that St. Kitts will be voted as being the winning field this year, and we must take into consideration we got off to a late start because of the lack of CPL being budgeted for; so we got a later start than last year.”
Richards also spoke of the Government’s position on CPL going forward.
“I think it is for the Government to review it year by year and to make that determination if we want to go forward with it. I can’t actually say for other years, because you never know what could happen or what could impact us as a country or a federation.”
The CPL bowls of on June 20 in Barbados with the St. Kitts Patriots in action on June 24. The first game in Warner Park will be on June 30.
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