After it was announced on Monday (June 25) that Guyana will host 11 games in the Women’s World T20 in November, Chairman of the Local Organising Committee, Christopher Jones, has given the assurance that the country is on stream with preparations.
Guyana has been earmarked to stage round-robin games in the November 9-24 event, which will feature 10 countries. Matches will also be held in St. Lucia and Antigua.
“Preparations are coming along very smoothly; our annex to the LOC would have recently returned from Antigua after meeting with the Cricket West Indies (CWI) as it relates to the three countries preparedness for the matches. Guyana was always touted to what the CWI refers to as a clean stadium, meaning we have no branding around as compared to the other stadiums,” Jones disclosed.
One of the major requirements of having international cricket in this modern era is having a replay screen, in addition to an electronic scoreboard.
In April 2018, Sport Minister Dr. George Norton was reported as saying that private sector will give assistance to the government to acquire the screen in time for the World Cup.
The Minister was quoted as saying, “The replay screen is directly going to be financed by the private sector. There is somebody from the private sector who has undertaken to do so.”
While Jones could give not a timeline by when the screen will be placed at the stadium, he reaffirmed it will be acquired in time for the games.
In November 2017, Simon Jelowitz, ICC’s Senior Event Operations Manager, who led a delegation here, explained they were impressed in some regards with the state of Providence which last hosted a World Cup in 2010.
The Providence Stadium, which was built for the hosting of matches in the 2007 50-over World Cup, has three major stands and a grass mound that can accommodate 4,000 people. The overall capacity is approximately 15,000.
Windies Women will defend the title this year, after Stafanie Taylor’s side won the 2016 edition in April in the Indian city of Kolkata, where they beat Australia in the Final.
The Darren Sammy Stadium in St. Lucia will also host preliminary matches, while Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua and Barbuda will stage the two semi-finals and the final.
