Preparation moving apace as first Class cricket return to Bourda

Mar 05, 2009 Sports

Clive Lloyd, Larpakan stands unfit for use

By Sean Devers
The famous Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground Bourda was once the Mecca of cricket in Guyana and has been hosting First-Class matches since 1887 when British Guiana beat Barbados by 106 runs.
Founded in 1858, GCC was moved from Parade ground in Middle Street, Georgetown to it present location at Bourda in 1885 and was the venue for the first ever Test match victory by the West Indies; in 1930 when the Caribbean side beat England.

With the construction of the Guyana National Stadium eliminating GCC as an International cricket ground, the once proud Bourda looked a shadow of itself as several prisoners worked feverishly to get the facility into a state a readiness to host the ninth round match of the WICB Regional First-Class four day cricket tournament between bottom-of-the-table Guyana and the Combined Colleges and Campuses (CCC) from tomorrow.

This will be the first First-Class match at this venue since Barbados beat Guyana by five wickets in February of 2007 and while Club Manager Gladstone Fausett is satisfied with the progress of preparation for tomorrow’s game, there are several areas of concern at a club which hosted the last of its 30 Test matches in 2005 when Shivnarine Chanderpaul celebrated his appointment as West Indies Skipper with a double century against South Africa.

Bourda has also hosted 10 of the 17 One-Day Internationals played by the West Indies in Guyana since the inaugural ODI in the region was played at Albion in Berbice in 1977, but these days the once hallowed turf of Bourda is used for mainly Fetes and local club matches and its membership has dwindled since the emergence of the Stadium as Guyana’s premier Cricket ground.
Yesterday the ground-staff was hard at work trying to get the area just in front of the Players’ pavilion, which was damaged by the Mash Night Soca and Dancehall concert, fit enough to facilitate first-class cricket.

Fausett explained that the Heavy Roller which is used on Roads, was utilised to roll the ground on Tuesday but plans to have it at the venue again yesterday failed, since it was reported that the drivers of the Roller (owned by the National Parks Commission) did not show up for work. Fausett said the Roller should be at Bourda for more work on the ground this morning. The gyrating patrons at the Mash Nigh show and the installation of the Stage left a large area of the South Western part of the ground bare of grass and very uneven. “We are wetting and rolling the area and it is coming along well. The pitch is in excellent shape and could host a Test match tomorrow. We are also ensuring that nothing dangerous is left on the ground and at present we are scrutinizing the entire ground with a fine tooth comb. We don’t expect any problems once the game starts,” Fausett assured.

While the prisoners were cleaning the stands and weeding bush beyond the boundaries, the dilapidated condition of Bourda’s first double-decker stand which carries the name of Clive Lloyd (Guyana’s most illustrious cricket Captain) and the Laparkan Stand next to it pose major safety concerns to spectators. According to Fausett, the two stands will not be used for tomorrow’s game because of its ‘run-down’ condition while all of the other stands will be opened.
The unavailability of the two stands will severely lessen the 10,000 capacity of Bourda but with not even a fraction of that number of people expected to turn up to watch the steadily declining standard of regional first-class cricket, without the big name players due to West Indies duties, the available accommodation should be more than adequate.

The pitch looks the usual flat Bourda track and while the ground looks a far cry from the days when it was described by commentators as ‘lightening fast and billiard table smooth’ the outfield should be fast and gave the batsmen value for their shots.
GCC President Paul Chan A Sue and the other executives of the historic club will probably hope that the nostalgic feeling from once again hosting a ‘high level’ match could inspire the membership and the fans to come out in their numbers this weekend as First-Class cricket returns to the Mecca.

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