By Neto Baptiste
President of the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association (ABCA), Leon Rodney, said the body has written to the management at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, seeking clarity on the situation that would have led to a delayed start on day one of the CWI Professional Championships four day match being played at the venue.
Reports are that the match between the Leeward Islands Hurricanes and the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force, was delayed by over two and a half hours due to “wet patches” on the pitch. The match, which was scheduled for a 10am start, commenced at 12:48pm due to the setback.
“We have written to the stadium management asking them to put in writing exactly what happened, and until we [get] that reply, we would not want to speak too much about it because we don’t want to speculate. We just want to say it is very unfortunate that at one of the major stadiums in the Caribbean that this would have repeated itself again and you know we have had issues in the past and somebody just needs to get up and understand that it is unacceptable you have a four day game start and it started late again for a second time,” he said.
Unconfirmed reports are that the covers used on the field may have been damaged, which allowed water from overnight rains on Tuesday to seep into the pitch.
Rodney reminded that the facility is not just another venue but one that should be held in high regards if only for the person whose name it bears.
“You can’t just take it as another stadium or another building because you have one of the greatest Antiguans, if not the greatest living person’s name attached to it — a man by the name of Sir Isaac Alexander Viv Richards. People go to that stadium every day to take pictures with a statue of Sir Viv Richards, so the stadium should not be taken as just another stadium; we have to take it very serious,” he said.
Reports are that a similar incident occurred when Guyana Harpy Eagles played Barbados Pride at the venue one week ago where the match was delayed due to wet areas around the pitch.
Head curator, Anthony Merrick, declined to comment when asked.