Hosting of inter-county U-19 tournament in May-June

‒ another meagre decision by GCB, says Delvon McEwan

Weather permitting the second round of action in the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/ Hand-In-Hand Insurance Under-19 50 over inter-county Tournament is expected to get underway today from 9:30h at two venues in Demerara.
That is subsequent to both first round matches being abandoned due to heavy rainfall in the city on Monday.
In the second round fixtures, Essequibo and the National U-17 Select Squad will clash at Police Sports Club Ground while archrivals Demerara and Berbice will be involved in a keen contest at the National Stadium.
However, after the entire first round of matches were abandoned there were many critics who blasted the schedule for the tournament, noting it should have been hosted prior to the May-June period (the rainy season) and secondly, to avoid clashes with cricketers/ students studying for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC).
In the May 5 edition of the Guyana Times Sport, there was an article headline: ‘May/June rain a major concern for cricket associations’.
Former West Indies player and Territorial Development Officer (TDO) of the GCB, Colin Stuart was interviewed about the impact the rain would have on scheduled matches for the May/June period, especially the hosting of the GCB U-19 inter-county tournament which was to commence in the latter part of May, a period where much rain is also expected.
“We expect some challenges in terms of getting the Under-19 inter-county to run-off; despite the rain, there could be some dry weather which we can capitalise on and the players can be fairly assessed by the selectors to select the national team,” Stuart, told this publication on Wednesday, May 3.
He also highlighted that they (GCB officials) will be setting matches as much as practical to not clash with exams but cautioned that if there are clashes they will be making special provisions.
However, with the prediction at 61 per cent that there will be rain in Demerara today, the second round action is almost unlikely to take place. Therefore it will leave just the third round on Thursday before the final on Friday. With the weather patterns predicted for the remainder of the week, it is doubtful any of these matches will be played.
Thus this publication decided to contact the Chairman of the Competition Committee of the GCB, Colin Europe, who said he is uncertain whether the matches will be rescheduled. He said the best person to provide the necessary information would be Stuart. However, several calls to Stuart proved futile.
The scheduling of the tournament is one that the incumbent GCB administration should have taken into consideration and it is just another flaw on their behalf.
Like it was when they planned the Jaguars Franchise League 50-over segment for last December and then subsequently blamed the players and adverse weather for the team’s substandard performance at this year’s Regional List A tournament.
In addition, Stuart’s claim to have provision so there will be no matches and CSEC exams clashing is inconceivable because of the scope of the exams and the limited time owing to GCB’s meagre decision that is afforded to host the tournament, so a team could be selected in time for the Regional U-19 tournament which gets underway on July 21 in St. Kitts.
The best venue to host the remaining matches would be the National Stadium; however, once it continues to rain it would not serve any purpose.
Once these matches are not rescheduled then it would allow limited or no opportunities for players who have worked tirelessly on their individual game to gain selection to the national team and a shot at selection to the West Indies U-19 team. It will serve as a disadvantage for the unfamiliar players.
How the Board will get through the tournament is quite interesting, but this comes as another poor decision by the GCB to host the tournament at this time and not at a prior date as it used to be under previous administrations and even this incumbent one in its initial days.