Why not a ball was bowled at SSC yesterday!

When Royal and S. Thomas’ went to battle with four covers

by Reemus Fernando  

Not a ball was bowled on day one of the 142nd Battle of the Blues at the SSC yesterday. But was it really due to wet weather?

The annual encounter which was postponed twice due to pandemic related issues was finally scheduled to start at 10 am behind closed doors yesterday. But despite rainy weather being forecast for all three days there were only four covers when match officials took control of the ground in the morning.

There was a shower of rain well before the start and it ceased around 9.40 am but sadly there was hardly enough manpower to bring the covers off and get the ground ready for this historic encounter. The Island could count some 15 grounds staff attending to the tough job of removing water and covers. According to ground sources only 16 ground staff had entered the bio secure bubble for this match.

Sources said that when matches of this magnitude are played at SSC, more than double that number are employed as ground staff. “You need around 15 men to move one cover without delay. If there is sudden rain you will need 60 men to bring four covers simultaneously to the middle.”

When the umpires inspected the ground finally, it was around 2.00 pm. But a delayed start was prevented by showers in the afternoon. However, there was no rain between 9.40 am to 2 .00 pm. At least one session of play would have been possible had there been enough covers to protect the ground.

There have been many instances of schools cricket matches involving underprivileged teams lasting the full distance despite rain interruptions due to the farsightedness of officials. Schools which are enthusiastic on their cricket transport their own covers to grounds where there are no facilities.

The Joint Organizing Committee could have just consulted their cricket teams had they needed knowledge in this regard as these two schools too have done the same on more than one occasion.

This severe lack of manpower and the lack of covers to protect the ground are likely to affect the remaining two days as rain has been predicted for both days.