Cricket West Indies and USA Cricket are probably still being applauded today for hosting a good all-round 2024 ICC T20 World Cup.
Indeed, the final was a thrilling encounter between India and South Africa at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, which ebbed and flowed until the late stages when skipper Rohit Sharma’s team showed their class to lift the title.
In all this euphoria, however, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) has managed to record a stain on its name, which may yet affect its ability to host future major international matches.
In the tournament build-up, local fans may have been perplexed when CWI announced the Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA) and not the Queen’s Park Oval would host the qualifying matches and semifinal awarded to this country.
This is because the Oval is considered one of the meccas regionally and is certainly the better of the two venues where cricket is played here in T&T.
While little was reported on the “politics” behind the decision, it seemed as though a little more was at play since a new playing surface was laid at the BLCA to facilitate its actual ability to host the games—the then-playing surface also not having had a history for being a “true” pitch either.
By the semifinal match, South Africa skipper Aiden Markram and Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott had stopped being “politically correct” in severely criticising the wicket, which produced a tournament record-low semifinal score of 56 by Afghanistan.
Regional and international commentators on TV and radio were also scathing in their condemnation. They castigated the CWI, the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB), and curators involved in its preparation, ultimately labelling all the pitches used in T&T as “unfair” and the semifinal pitch as “dangerous.”
Alongside this criticism would have come shame for T&T, whose “tourism package” was highlighted during the games as part of the narrative disseminated to the international audiences on match days. Needless to say, it certainly was a major blow to Sport and Youth Affairs Minister Shamfa Cudjoe’s hope of using the event as a launchpad for future cricket-related tourism initiatives.
Having said that, LOC Director of Operations Omar Khan must explain why no adjustment was made between the qualifying matches and semifinal. Mr Khan and his team, already red-flagged for fan transport in the first game hosted here, had time to test the other pitch surfaces between the preliminary round and semifinal, so they could have used the best of a bad lot in the semis.
Khan deflected responsibility to the CWI, noting they had experts monitoring the preparation of pitches. The CWI also had a curator workshop ahead of the tournament, but Khan conceded that the re-laying of the pitch before the competition started may have contributed to its perilous nature.
The tragedy in his acceptance of liability, however, was that he hoped they would get it right the next time, perhaps believing an international body like the ICC would allow another chance at failure and international embarrassment to its brand.
Ultimately, then, the damage done in this scenario may also be irreparable to the legacy of the BLCA as a venue for international matches and will remain a black stain on both the CWI and TTCB.
