ICC T20 World Cup, work is being done to ensure that the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground is up to standard and meets all the requirements to host the allotted matches.
20 nations will battle for glory in the United States and the West Indies during four weeks of intense action and Saint Lucia is scheduled to host matches from June 15-24.
Sports Minister Kenson Casimir in a recent interview with Joseph “Reds” Perreira, said that there has been significant progress at the stadium thus far, and that Saint Lucia has “all the dynamics that would make a competitive nation ready to go for a World Cup.”
The bidding process
Casimir also discussed the bidding process for the event, telling Perreira it was “very important for us” and that there was a lot of collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, prime minister and the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports.
“The collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism in providing that information on our capacity to welcome the rest of the world in a very effective way to the community of Gros Islet and wider communities of Castries and all of Saint Lucia was a huge part of the bid and we were very confident going in that we had that capacity locked down,” Casimir said.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) outlined the rules that Saint Lucia had to follow in order to host the event, and according to Casimir, “they were requesting every single modern adjustment that we could have made.”
“You would see the likes of Jamaica deciding in the final analysis that they were just not ready to pretty much adhere to all the requirements. You would see Dominica pulling out later, but Saint Lucia, having the fundamentals of our economy, sports and of course our tourism product (was) comfortable with all the requests. From spider cam, in terms of the new technology, in terms of videography, the requirements for lights, requirements for the additional media coming in for the World Cup (it was) vast,” Casmir indicated, adding that the ICC “made recommendations in terms of the (changing rooms) for athletes, the media center, parking, (etcetera).”
ICC’s ‘Checklist’
According to Casimir, Saint Lucia was given a comprehensive checklist and took certain steps to ensure that it is prepared for the tournament. But before committing to hosting the event, several factors had to be considered.
“We realized that given the time constraints- because we really waited for whether or not Saint Lucia was going to host Cricket World Cup and secondly what part we would play in terms of the fixture. You would appreciate that making accommodations for England being in Saint Lucia would be significantly different from making preparations for a Zimbabwe audience or a UAE audience. We really had to wait to find out who we were hosting. Once we found out that there was a huge possibility that England and India would be in Saint Lucia during the business end of the tournament, we really committed to ensuring that we did all we could (so) that the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, Gros Islet Playing Field and of course the Mindoo Phillip Park were available and met all the requirements of Cricket West Indies and ICC,” Casimir stated.
Over the years, the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground has faced a number of challenges affecting players and fans alike. Casimir stated that there were about “twenty-seven leaks – I can’t remember the exact amount, either 27 or 47, which meant that we had to do some comprehensive work on the roofing system.”
New Roofs at DSCG
“We inherited (it). We realized that it would have been embarrassing for us to host Cricket World Cup and for water to be falling on the heads of media personalities, cricketers and visitors so we took off the roof and we did a completely new roof. Every single roof had to be pulled out and of course we did (the) Johnson Charles (Stand) first simply because this is where fans go very early, that’s where all the entertainment really happens,” the minister said.
Transitioning to LED and solar lights
The lights at the stadium have also been changed Casimir noted, which will come as a relief to fans and players. For a long time now, the lights “have been of concern. For about three years… there were a lot of drop catches and initially the thought process was that perhaps the Saint Lucian team was just not competent in catching and then we saw that other teams were having some difficulties. The light levels especially when you’re using fossil fuels would go down after a couple of years and so the lights became more yellow. We realized that … we needed to transition from the fossil fuel into LEDs and solar lights,” he stated.
As one who believes in energy efficiency and alternative energy, “that is the transition we are making in terms of our reduction of any sort of carbon footprint,” Casimir said.
Players Pavilion Receives Major Upgrade
The Players Pavilion will be completely transformed and will meet modern standards. The minister said that it was a very important aspect of what ICC wanted.
“They wanted a modern look. They wanted the players to feel comfortable; they wanted us to use the technology in terms of television and internet because this is where all the analysis would happen (and) where the teams come in so we have a modern Players Pavilion being constructed. The seating area on top is normally reserved for VIP and for individuals coming in to enjoy that sort of ambience so we had to make every effort to make this place as classy as possible,” Casimir stated.
The minister said he’s very pleased with the modern look and that it will benefit not only those participating in the tournament but others as well.
Over 140 media personalities expected for World Cup
According to Casimir, over 140 media personalities are expected for the World Cup. This meant that the media area had to be expanded. It will also feature modern designs, Casimir said, noting that the stadium was opened in 2007 “and the rest of the world would have made many adjustments in terms of the technology for hosting events. We had to take the position that we had to open it up (and) make it more comfortable and of course most of all suited for media personalities to get (their) story.”
New electronic replay screen to be featured at World Cup
This week, Casimir, accompanied by a delegation from the Ministry, met with Dongil Oh, an ambassador from the Republic of Korea.
“They were there to inspect the new electronic replay television screen donated for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup. Additionally, the Ministry’s delegation expressed their gratitude to the Republic of Korea for the recent donation of a 16-seater bus and a 30-seater coaster,” the Ministry said in an online post.