Latest update February 6th, 2025 7:27 AM
Regional 20/20 shifted
GCB officials at yesterday’s media session at the GCB Secretariat.
Guyana won bid but Stadium booked for Rugby since January
By Sean Devers
President of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Chetram Singh yesterday informed the media that although Guyana won their bid to host the play-off stage of this July’s Regional 20/20 competition the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) will have to find another venue since the Guyana National Stadium has been booked for Rugby from July 18-30.
The Providence Stadium, which was funded by a grant and a loan from the Indian Government and constructed in 2006 for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, is the only cricket ground in Guyana with adequate flood lights and one of the best Cricket venues in the Region.
Singh said that while Rugby will get the ground free as Government’s contribution to sport and the Cricket Board would have paid a rental fee and a cost for the lights, the venue was booked since January and neither the dates for the Cricket or Rugby could have been changed resulting in Guyana losing out on hosting the Cricket tournament.
“I spoke to the Rugby people, the Minister and the Stadium Manager but since the Rugby is also important and we (GCB) were not aware that a Regional 20/20 would have been played in July until recently there was nothing that could be done to facilitate our request to use the Stadium,” Singh said.
The hastily arranged Regional 20/20 tournament which involves the six Regional teams along with the Combined Colleges and Campuses (CCC) and Canada will be played in two parts and must be finished before August since the Organisers of the Champions League in India need to know by August 1 which West Indian team will be participating in their tournament in September. The winner of the Regional 20/20 series will represent the West Indies this year after Trinidad and Tobago reached the finals last year.
The first part of the Regional 20/20 is set for Barbados from July 22-25 and will feature two zones of 4 teams with each team playing three matches to qualify for the semi-finals which is set from July 28-31.
Singh disclosed that the venue for the semi-finals, 3rd place play-off and final must have lights and said that a decision on which country will host the last part of the tournament will be made shortly.
Meanwhile, the GCB has acquired sponsorship from cell phone giants Digicel for the staging of a National 20/20 competition involving three teams in each county playing among themselves before the top two emerge to the national play-offs.
It was disclosed that 12 matches will be played before the semis which are set for July 9 at the National Stadium.
The final is scheduled for the next day at the same venue and this competition, which should attract all the best players in Guyana, will be used to select the Guyana team for the Regional 20/20 tourney.
While the fixtures and the magnitude of Digicel’s sponsorship will be revealed next week, Digicel, sponsors of West Indies cricket, is expected to maximize on mileage from this competition since each team will be given names associated with Digicel’s products and Digicel branding will be allowed at all venues hosting matches in the three counties.
A Digicel X1 will also take on the Guyana 20/20 side in a few practice matches before they leave for Barbados and plans are in place to include a few players from outside of Guyana who need practice in the Digicel team in an effort to provide sterner competition for the National squad.
West Indies players Ramnaresh Sarwan, Travis Dowlin, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Narsingh Deonarine could miss the preliminary stage of the competition due to West Indies Test commitments but should be available for the semi-final stage.
A National 20/20 club competition and a 20/20 Inter-County tournament are also set for towards the end of this year to help preparations for the National team for the 2011 Regional 20/20 competition which should be played in January.
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