By Neto Baptiste
Matches in next month’s 10 Splash Cricket Tournament to be hosted by the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association (ABCA) will be broadcast live.
This was the assurance given by President of the ABCA, Leon Rodney, who said he is currently in talks with Cricket West Indies (CWI) over the possible use of their streaming equipment.
“Let’s put it down that the games have to be streamed. There is no way that we are going to put these games on and they are not streamed. We are just trying to figure out who will and we are having a conversation with CWI and hopefully their equipment will be used, but I can guarantee you that the games will be streamed but we are just trying to finalize everything,” he said.
Vice President of the association and chair of the body’s competitions committee, Kenny Lewis, said plans for the December 5-20 tournament are well advanced with a focus on safety for both players and spectators alike.
“That is one of the things we are definitely going to try to enforce for this tournament, the safety aspect. In fact, to tell you more, what we have been advocating to the clubs is that when you are having these warm-up games, try to do it in a realistic manner and I am calling on the general public and also my villagers because this weekend, Bethesda should be playing some warm-up games at home and we are definitely going to be putting in all of the different protocols like the temperature checks and everything that will be required once we start at the stadium,” he said.
According to Lewis, the lone venue designated to host matches during the tournament is more than adequate to host the sport’s comeback tournament since he Covid-19 pandemic halted all competition back in March.
“The good thing is that, at the stadium, there are various hand-washing stations and various areas where you could get your hands sanitized. We will be doing the temperature checks because we cannot rule out that so we will have several temperature checking points. We also have some signage that we are going to put up just to give the patrons a guideline as to which seat would definitely be used as they are to be three to six feet apart,” the VP said.
In the opening match on December 5, Jennings will meet Combined School at 3:30 pm in Zone One while PIC Liberta Blackhawks and All Saints Pythons, also from Zone One, will clash at 7:30 pm.
In the other match, a Zone Two clash, CUB Bethesda Golden Eagles and Pigotts Crushers will face off at 5:30 pm.