THE Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) could re-start its cricket competitions within a few weeks, according to its Competitions Committee chairman Shaun Massiah.
The veteran cricketer/coach said that the restart is a process, but if all goes according to plan, the national sport would resume in the capital city later this month.
An actual resumption date would, however, depend on the approval of the COVID-19 Task Force and the weather, according to Massiah.
“Once we get good weather and the approval, we would convene a meeting with our affiliated clubs, captains and secretaries to discuss and lay down the COVID-19 regulations pertaining to cricket and players. Once all of this is done then we can set a resumption date; but so far tentative dates are either January 23 or 30.”

Massiah, who is also the senior captain/coach of the Transport Sports Club, noted that there are still 2020 competitions to complete.
“We still have competitions to continue such as 1st and 2nd Division, 2-Day and 2nd Division 40 Overs.”
Upon completion, GCA will begin several new competitions at different age levels.
“New competitions in the pipeline are: First Division 50 Overs, Under-13, U-15, U-17, U-19 and U-23, Open T/10, 1st & 2nd Division T20, and then the restart of 1st and 2nd Division two-day along with the 2nd Division 40 overs.”

In the meanwhile the association is looking to attract new sponsors and is hoping that its regular patrons would again lend support.
Massiah who is confident that the sport would soon be given the greenlight said that the safety of the cricketers would be of paramount importance.
“Once everyone follows and practises all protocols and keeps the immune system high it should be good. When you see a sport like football which is a contact sport being given the go-ahead by the Task Force, I would want to think that cricket which is a lesser contact sport would get the go-ahead.
“Every fielding position is about more than six feet (apart) except for slips which is about two to three feet apart, so it is an 80% chance of getting the nod from the Task Force unless something major comes up.”