By Clement Ogarro
Parishes of St. Kitts and Nevis
A nine man team completed a successful Venue inspection of all 5 grounds to be used in St Kitts for the ICC WORLD TWENTY20 WEST INDIES 2010 cricket tournament during May 1-10. The team made their rounds to venues located in St Pauls, Molinieux, Cayon, Conaree, Warner Park and also the Len Harris Cricket Academy on January 19, 2010.
The team comprised of Andy Atkinson, ICC Pitch Consultant, and Deron Dixon, Regional Cricket Operations Manager, who both flew in to St Kitts for this assignment. They were joined by Dave Connor, Myron James, and Orville Maynard from the St. Kitts Ministry of Sports; Ray John, chairperson of Event Management Operations Centre, and James Kelly, local architect. Steve Saunders, Cricket Operations Officer, and Clement Ogarro, Corporate Communications Officer, both of the ICC Venue Office in St Kitts, also accompanied the team of inspectors.
Mr Atkinson’s job was to ensure the readiness of the pitch and field at all the venues chosen to stage matches in the first round series of the women’s version of the tournament. Mr Dixon in his capacity as Regional Cricket Operations Manager for the upcoming tournament, paid special attention to the buildings that would accommodate not only the teams but also the media, and visiting and local VIPs.
Mr John and Mr Kelly focussed mainly on the production of an overlay for each venue, while the officials from the Ministry of Sports, owner of the grounds, were available to answer questions and provide updates with regards to the progress and improvements made since the last inspection which tookplace in July, 2009.
At the end of the four hour long exercise, Mr Atkinson expressed a general satisfaction with the inspection and said that definite improvements were made in respect to all the venues. In the case of the St Pauls recreation ground he cited the obvious work that had been done to produce a decent cover of grass on the pitch. He further stated that he was fairly relaxed and encouraged by the continued fertilizing and watering of all the pitches and fields.
His only worry was the re-grassing of the field at Conaree but was assured by the officials of the Ministry of Sports that the process is progressing smoothly and the grounds would be available for the practice sessions scheduled prior to and during the tournament.
Mr Dave Connor, Director of Sports, told the team that his department intends to learn from this event, and is preparing for the legacy that the tournament would create for the future use of the grounds. Mr Lloyd Lazar, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Sports, who joined the team for the last leg of the inspection at Warner park, told the team of his Ministry’s primary objective which is to consistently maintain all the grounds, ensuring their use on a regular basis for local, regional and international events such as the upcoming ICC WORLD TWENTY20 WEST INDIES
2010.
Mr Atkinson and Mr Dixon departed St Kitts on January 20, 2010 to join his colleagues in Guyana where they will conduct a similar exercise exactly 100 days to the date of the first match of the tournament when New Zealand takes on Sri Lanka at 1pm Eastern Caribbean Time.
