PRESIDENT of the Everest Cricket Club Manzoor Nadir is confident that despite the recent inclement weather conditions, the Camp Road ground will be ready for Afghanistan’s first practice session tomorrow.
Nadir, who is also the speaker of the National Assembly, said Everest, which has hosted five first-class matches, is keen on providing a good showing.

According to Nadir, who became the club’s President in 2019, preparation for the ICC T20 World Cup as a practice facility was set to be completed already but rain over the last five days have affected some aspects of that work.
Yesterday, the ground which was wet in some areas, was being dried.

Nadir informed that he has asked for work on the venue to continue up to 20:00hrs last evening to ensure the ground’s readiness.
“Many of what the ICC asked for were already here since last year. We do not only play cricket here; we also have Hockey and Table Tennis and we have been improving the club in the last two years and that had nothing to do with the T20 World Cup,” Nadir informed before going around the venue in ‘long boots’ to supervise the work being done.

Nadir said the Northern boundary has been extended and a 23-foot sightscreen erected two days ago, adding, “We had dirt which was protected from the weather with the covers for a while now and we used that dirt to resurface our square which has four pitches. We also sent part of it to GCC and Police for their work on the pitches there.”

He disclosed the Government provided three grounds men while the ICC added another seven to what Everest had.
Nadir thanked Everest’s head curator Dass and crew for their hard work while he also thanked Guyana National Stadium (GNS) Providence Manager Azad (Abrahim) and head Curator at Wasim Habib for their assistance.
The ICC has mandated that all venues used for this World Cup must have grass on the pitches to create better surfaces in the West Indies.

“Since 2022 during match here against Albion, commentators were talking about the grass on the pitch here. I am hoping that when the World Cup is done, the grass cutter and other equipment is left with us for continued maintenance of Everest and the other grounds used as practice venues here,” added Nadir.

Nadir is of the view that at five grounds in the city, Albion in Berbice and the refurbished Uitvlugt in West Coast Demerara are capable of hosting first-class cricket.
He said the biggest challenge for local cricket clubs is funding to maintain the various programmes.

“Although the Government has a large budget for ground enhancement, if 250 clubs seek funding then the funding you will receive would be nothing much, so we don’t ask Government for funding. We use the money we get from our contribution to the National grid and also from the members and sponsors. More Administers need to be proactive and find ways of getting funds…GCC President Jonatan Yearwood is doing a good job in this regard,” stated Nadir.

Only members will be allowed to view the practice sessions from the Everest Pavilion due to strict security measures taken by the ICC. All warm-up matches and practice sessions be will be held behind closed doors.
West Indies face PNG on Sunday at Providence and both teams will be engaged in practice sessions at the Stadium tomorrow with the hosts training in the morning and visitors doing their workout in the afternoon.