… National Task Force to decide ECC faith

THE President’s T20 Softball League descended into farce on Sunday afternoon when the Open final was called off, after the organisers discovered several breaches of COVID-19 protocols.
However, the organisers, Georgetown Softball Cricket League (GSCL), is refusing to take the blame solely, saying Everest Cricket Club (ECC), the venue where the three-day tournament ended in an anti-climactic fashion, should shoulder the responsibility for the COVID-19 breaches.
“We, the GSCL, had no control over the gate … that the gate was solely monitored by the ECC, so whoever comes in or goes out was out of our control,” president of GSCL, Ian John, said in an invited comment on Monday.

John added: “The GSCL (orgamisers) tried their best to adhere to the COVID-19 guidelines, but I was surprised at the large crowd in the afternoon. We had to show respect to His Excellency, and to the Task Force, so after some discussion with the president of ECC, Manzoor Nadir, and the match officials, we decided to call off the game in the best interest of all.”
It is understood that the organisers were granted conditional approval by the Task Force to host the event, of which the Head of State had agreed to be patron with the assurance that the organisers would adhere to the National COVID-19 guidelines.
However, the venue was packed to almost capacity, with the majority of the spectators breaching the COVID-19 guidelines – failing to wear a mask and lacking social distancing.

Meanwhile, Director of the National COVID-19 Task Force, Colonel Nazrul Hussain, said the Task Force will decide forward after meeting with administrators of the ECC The Task Force was expected to meet with ECC sometime on Monday.
“Well, we haven’t reached out to the organisers of the tournament, but we will meet with the administrators of the ECC to decide the way forward,” Colonel Hussain revealed to Chronicle Sport on Monday.
President Irfaan Ali, upon arriving at the venue on Sunday, expressed his disappointment with the organisers, and called for those who are responsible to face the consequence of their action.