With the aiming of attaining international standards, the Everest Cricket Club is upgrading its pitch area and extending the outfield, while groundstaff are currently preparing to plant new grass on the pitch to have it ready between March and April.
The upgrades come on the heels of the facility gaining the status of practice and warm-up venue for the Men’s World T20 in June.
Guyana will host semi-final one and five group games of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, slated for June 1-29, 2024, in the West Indies and USA.
The group matches in Guyana are from June 2-8, while the semi-final is on June 26.
In the first stage of expanding the ‘square’, the top layer of the existing pitches was taken off and replaced with dirt collected from Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, to create four pitches.
The ultimate aim is to have six pitches, so the outfield has been extended to the east.
The extension on the outfield means that the existing northern sight screen will be replaced by a larger structure and the new sight screen will be approximately forty feet wide.
From next week, the intention is to begin planting the Bermuda Princess grass, the same type that is at the National Stadium.
Similar works are expected on the pitches at the Georgetown Cricket Club and Police Sports Club, which have been identified as practice and warm-up venues.
Everest Club Manager Krista Norton indicated that apart from the ongoing pitch upgrades, work is ongoing on the batting cage, which has five pitches- three artificial turf and two mud pitches- but they have to place more nets on the facility that Republic Bank adopted.
The facility will have lights for night sessions and durable internet access to allow players virtual sessions with coaches.
Additionally, a medical booth is expected to be constructed to the southeast of the ground by Dr. Surendra Persaud.
Norton indicated that while they know hosting international cricket is farfetched, they are aiming to develop a quality facility for cricket and entertainment in the city.
