– Ramson says about weather threat to U19 WC hosting
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr, has disclosed that initial concerns had arisen about the ability of Guyana’s venues to host cricket games when inclement weather persisted during the Christmas season; an occurrence that would essentially pose a threat to the readiness of grounds for the local arm of the ICC U19 Men’s World Cup.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson
Responding to questions from Sports Media on Monday afternoon during a side interview regarding Guyana’s hosting of the Men’s Under 19 50 Over World Cup, Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr. admitted that recent inclement weather had placed a dark cloud over some of Guyana’s flood-prone venues.
“We had to redirect a lot of our energies towards keeping the facilities at a certain level of maintenance. We had to do additional pumping for the various grounds, clearing and doing all the renovation works, because we had inspections.
“We had multiple inspections from the ICC and CWI, and at one point it was getting a bit edgy, or iffy, whether we were going to be able to remain as a host,” the Sport Minister divulged to the media.
On the topic of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC’s) inspections of the grounds and how it is conducted, Ramson detailed that Cricket West Indies (CWI) have been working on their behalf.
Ramson explained, “There agents here are CWI, in terms of inspection, so they’re relaying real time information. They’re also relaying videos and whatever data that they need. The CWI reps are here, so any questions that the ICC has, in relation to the condition of the various host countries, they’re the reps on the ground that would be able to give them the real time information.
“That’s only to keep them abreast, but they’re going to be returning too,” he added.
Following this initial revelation, Ramson Jr. said no alarm was made, since they wanted to refrain from creating panic in Guyana’s cricket loving society.
“Internally, I didn’t want to raise any unnecessary concern with the public, but, internally, we were really putting of our efforts. I’m also very happy with what I’m seeing from all of the leadership committees from the various grounds, all of them pulled their weight,” Ramson Jr. noted.
“I also had a lot of Cabinet support from the various Ministries and from the President himself, because we know how important cricket is for Guyana,”
In spite of those occurrences, the Sport Minister has shared that work to remedy the rain’s damage has been continuous, and venues are currently 99% ready for the World Cup that is scheduled to commence on January 14.
“Thankfully, all of the grounds now, in terms of the maintenance work for the facilities, the renovations, they’re 99% completed. So, all the changing rooms, dressing rooms, pavilions, stands, everything, infrastructure in relation to drainage, all of that is done.”
He went on to share, “Right now, we just want to keep everything the way that it needs to go along with implementing the respective agencies, so that they’re allowed to do their work.”
With teams already arriving in Guyana, practice matches for the Under-19 World Cup are billed to start on January 9. Meanwhile, West Indies, Australia, Sri Lanka, Scotland India, South Africa, Ireland and Uganda will play one official game each in Guyana before moving on to other Caribbean countries for their remaining fixtures. (Jemima Holmes)
