Master Blasters could field larger Tri20 team

The Antigua and Barbuda Master Blasters will be allowed to submit a larger roster than stipulated for the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association (ABCA) Tri20 Cricket Tournament slated for October 6-14 here at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.
This is according to President of the association, Leon “Kuma” Rodney, who said that the privilege has been extended to the Master Blasters solely on the basis of  them being the home team.
“All teams are allowed 15 players and two management but you know Antigua is home and it’s our tournament so we do as we like [what we want]. Once the guys [players] continue their training, then they would notify us in terms of what they want because as I said, it’s the Antigua team’s thing. We are just managing it and if they come and say they want to have 16 guys, 17 guys then I would be going with that,” he said.
The tournament is slated to feature teams from Guyana and Jamaica as they seek to dethrone defending champions Antigua and Barbuda over nine days of competition.
Rodney sought to assure fans that the tournament is still slated for the country’s chief cricketing venue following concerns expressed by coach and former West Indies player, Kenneth “Flipper” Benjamin, last week.
“Except something is happening that I do not know about or the coach is saying something he doesn’t know about then something is wrong. As far as I know, I have given the assurance that everything is in place and so on, so I can’t say anything other than what I know, and you know I am not very good at lying,” the president said.
A number of Barbudans, displaced by Hurricane Irma, are being housed at the venue, occupying the area containing the dressing rooms and other team amenities.
Rodney said plans have been put in place to combat the issue.
“I think that this will serve as some entertainment to the Barbudans living there [at the stadium] and we have already gone with the workaround as to how we will handle that because the dressing rooms and livable [being utilised] right now with the Barbudans so we are going to stick with the workaround,” he said.
“We did have a conversation with the CCG [Coolidge Cricket Ground] and it’s possible things can happen there, but I think we are in a very good position to entertain our brothers and sisters from Barbuda and just leave well alone and just make sure we have the right things in the right place that these teams can be happy,” he added.
According to Benjamin, the squad has not been able to utilise the venue for training purposes which he said, has hampered their preparations.