By Neto Baptiste
President of the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association (ABCA) Leon Rodney, on Tuesday, issued a public apology to teams that were made to start play on wet pitches during the second round of the body’s two-day competition last Saturday.
Rodney, who was speaking on the Good Morning Jojo sports show at the time, said the association has spoken with the umpires after receiving several complaints regarding what he said is a dangerous practice.
“I would just like to apologise to the teams on behalf of the umpires’ association and you know I have to do this because you know when anything goes wrong and at the end of the day it is our tournament so people are calling us. I’ve already spoken to the chief of the umpires but we have to get them to understand that it has to be safety first. We want the cricket to be played but what happened in All Saints really, based on our understanding so far, was really something different and we can’t afford those sort of things so I just want to apologize to all the teams on behalf of myself and the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association for what took place on the weekend,” he said
Captain of the New Winthorpes Lions Nino Henry raised the issue while speaking on the Observer Radio sports show, pointed to the fact that his team was bowled out for 64 runs in their first innings before, in turn, bowling out their opponents, All Saints Pythons, for just 44 in their first innings.
Henry opined that the pitch was not adequately dried before the umpire signalled the start.
“I thought that they would have probably started closer to tea in order to give it a little time to dry, but they started just after lunch so we just went along because obviously they are in charge of the game. It’s unfortunate that we got bowled out for 64 but we knew that All Saints had to bat on the same wicket,” the player said.
The match between Pythons and Lions, played at Mack Pond in All Saints, saw 20 wickets fall on Saturday’s day one as both teams failed to reach triple figures in their first innings. Lions won the match by 158 runs.