Berbice vs President’s XI…Opening day washed out

Heavy overnight showers and inadequate ground staff combined to ensure the opening day of the first round of the Hand-in-Hand/GT&T four-day Senior Inter-County cricket match between Berbice and the President’s X1 was washed out without a ball being bowled at the Everest ground yesterday.

The sun was out in all its glory from as early 08:00hrs yesterday morning and remained shining until close to 17:00hrs even as the Umpires hoped for a start after Tea. However, play on the first day was eventually called off 55 minutes before the scheduled 16:30hrs close of play.

The ground staff present were occupied with removing bundles of grass from the sward after the Eastern section of the ground was cut on Wednesday evening and nobody was available to remove surface water that had settled on the Western section of the ground. ::

The head curator lamented that he needed at least four extra members to his team to efficiently get the job done especially since it was known by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) that grass had to be removed from the ground before the start of play. :

The Umpires and Match Referee, former Test pacer Colin Stuart inspected the ground just after 15:00hrs and the stumps were put in place. But the infield was still soggy resulting in play being called off leaving players from both teams, who resorted to playing pools, cards and dominoes during the all day wait at the venue, inactive and frustrated. >

This competition, which also involves Defending Champions Demerara and Essequibo, is being used to select the Guyana team for next January’s Regional Super50 tournament and play today is scheduled to commence at 09:00hrs. ::LOL::

Manager of Berbice Albert Smith, the long serving former National Coach, feels matches should have been fixed for Berbice since it was raining less in that County, adding that more cricket being played there was highly likely. (Sean Devers)