Sat | Jul 11, 2026

Poorly prepared pitch, rain equal no-result

Published:Monday | October 18, 2010 | 12:00 AM
The Leeward Islands' Steve Liburd (second right) is trapped lbw by Sagicor High Performance Centre's spinner, Nkrumah Bonner (out of picture), as Sagicor High Performance Centre's wicketkeeper, Devon Thomas (right), makes a successful appeal and Javia Liburd watches from the non-striker's end during their WICB Regional 50-over tournament yesterday at Kensington Park. The game ended in a no-result. - Ian Allen/Photographer

Ryon Jones, Gleaner Writer

A combination of a poorly prepared pitch and rain led to a no-result in the Group B match between the Leeward Islands and the Sagicor High Performance Centre (HPC) development team at Kensington Park yesterday, in the 2010 West Indies Cricket Board Regional 50-over tournament.

Sagicor HPC won the toss and sent the Leewards to take first strike. Six overs into the innings, umpires Joel Wilson and Vivian Johnson deemed the pitch dangerous and paused proceedings.

Following the lengthy delay for the rolling of the pitch, the game was reduced to a 42- over-per-side contest. The Leewards limped to168 all out off the final delivery of their allotted overs.

In reply, Sagicor HPC reached 21 for two in the eighth over, before persistent rain forced the abandonment of play.

Disappointed

"I am pretty much disappointed, bearing in mind that this morning we turned up here and the start of play was hampered by the preparation of the pitch and both teams have to suffer because of that," remarked Leewards captain, Wilden Cornwall.

"The play had to be abandoned to prepare the pitch for a 9 o'clock start. From I arrived at the ground this morning the pitch just did not look right and it is cause for concern," he added. "This tournament is our highest tournament for the West Indies, it is the next level to West Indies cricket, why are we treating cricket like this in the Caribbean; it is poor, really poor and I am very much upset.

"I am pretty much disappointed with the way things were done today and I am just appealing to the organisers; at least you got to look on the ground and take into consideration players' comfort, how the wicket looks and how the outfield looks. The outfield is not ready to play any cricket, in a whole game only three boundaries were hit because of the outfield," he bemoaned.

The Leewards now face a must-win task against Guyana tomorrow, to advance to the semi-finals.

They will have to bat much better against the Guyanese as only three of their batsmen got among the runs - Javia Liburd (37), Chesney Huges (37) and Justin Athanaze (27).

Jamaica's Nkrumah Bonner was the pick of the Sagicor HPC bowlers bagging three for 21 off five overs.