PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Heavy torrential rain forced the abandonment of the final day of preliminary round matches in the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship yesterday. Bleak weather descended on the Trinidad & Tobago capital around 12:00 h, and when it eased almost three hours later, the Queen’s Park Oval resembled a lake, rather than a premier sports facility.
It resulted in the washout of the Barbados and Guyana clash scheduled for 16:00 h and officials were also forced to call off the second encounter between Combined Campuses and Colleges and Windward Islands two hours ahead of the scheduled 20:00 h start time.
Both Barbados and Guyana teams arrived at the ground about an hour before the scheduled start, but West Indies Cricket Board officials informed them half-hour later about the cancellation of the match, and meant that the two sides would earn an equal share of four points.
It left them both tied with 10 in total, following victories in their other two preliminary matches against Combined Campuses & Colleges and Windward Islands.
The Barbadians however, finished in the top spot of Group-B with a superior net run rate of +0.975 ahead of the Guyanese (+0.361), under the tie-breaker rule.
CCC and the Windwards, meanwhile, finished with one point each from the abandoned game.
The heavy rains left the streets around the Caribbean’s biggest international ground flooded, bringing traffic to a crawl, and even stalling a few vehicles.
Members of the television crew beaming “live” coverage of the matches around the World had to remove their shoes to wade through knee-deep water to access their production room, where several pieces of equipment were under water, and prevented them from powering-up.
The outfield was also heavily flooded that the boundary ropes floated out of position, and the advertising hoarding ringing the ground was also knocked out of place.
But the executive of the ground would feel smart, since the drainage system installed underneath the turf ahead of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean soon took effect, and a few hours later the surface water had disappeared.
Organisers did not immediately abandon the second match scheduled for the day between CCC and Windwards – indicating that a final decision would be made around 18:00 h. (local time)
The abandonment sets up two intriguing semi-finals scheduled for today at the same venue, where Guyana will face hosts Trinidad & Tobago from 16:00 h before Barbados meet Jamaica in the other semi-final four hours later.
The Grand Final between the two semi-final winners is tomorrow from 20:00 h following the Consolation Final (third-place playoff) four hours earlier between the two semi-final losers.
But the prospects of the semi-finals and the Final being contested also look depressing, unless there is a dramatic change in the weather.
If the semi-finals are not contested, the four teams will advance to the respective finals based on net run rate, meaning T&T (+1.869) and arch-rivals Barbados will play in the Final, and the Consolation Final will bring together Guyana and Jamaica (+0.318).
The matches will be replayed (re-started) on Sunday should there be no play in the respective finals tomorrow.
If there is still no winner on the field of play, the winners will be the team with the higher net run rate throughout the competition.