Jamaica ready to host tourney

KINGSTON (CMC):

Despite heavy rains here recently that caused widespread flooding, cricket officials have declared the country ready to host the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) regional one-day championship, which bowls off today.

"Everything will be in place for cricket on Thursday," said Dave Cameron, president of Kensington Club, which will host one of the opening matches.

"We are putting all systems in place for the start of the tournament. We have been hosting first-class cricket for some years now so we are accustomed to staging cricket at this level. We have the framework in place, so everything will be ready."

Torrential rains here in recent weeks, which resulted in severe flooding in some parishes, was a source of deep concern for organisers, especially over the state of the outfield at the respective venues.

Game move

Organisers were forced to move the two first games scheduled for Chedwin Park, which was severely affected by the bad weather. Kensington Park was pencilled in at the last moment.

At Sabina Park and Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium, two other venues being used, last-minute preparations were ongoing as officials spruced up the ground for the October 14-24 tournament.

Robert Bryan, chief executive of the Jamaica Cricket Association, said he expected the tournament to be executed smoothly.

"We are in the process of putting in the finishing touches at Sabina Park and Trelawny," he said.

"We are confident everything will go well. As everyone is aware, we had to move from Chedwin to Kensington due to bad weather, but we have the mechanisms in place so we don't expect any disruption."