Grounds to host U- 19 World Cup were selected based on a number of factors – Minister Ramson
The grounds selected to play matches in the 14th edition of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Under-19 World Cup next year, were based on factors associated with time and proximity to the hotels at which the cricketers would be staying.
This was noted by the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr. M.P., in an interview last week.
“They had a radius that they were working with, with where they were residing for the tournament, so because they’re staying in hotels and they had to be at hotels that are good standard with the number of rooms and capacity, because you heard the number of teams are gonna be coming for the tournament… because you’ve got two main hotels that are really at a high standard; Ramada and the Marriot, they’ve got to be between a 30-minute radius of being able to transport the teams,” said Minister Ramson.
The minister said that if it was up to him, he would have loved to host the tournament in other regions of the country, since there are lots of economic benefits that come along with the competition.
“Because obviously, there’s a lot of cricketing talent in those areas. It also generates a lot of economic activity into the area too, so, because of that restrictive criteria from ICC and it makes sense from their stand point because it cuts down on cost, also from a time perspective so that’s the main reason of how the grounds were selected for the World Cup,” he said.
Moreover, the minister said that the government is already working to develop facilities and make the necessary investments to hold tournaments of high standards in other regions in the future.
“We’re already making the investments in the community grounds, we’re starting to open up those grounds in maybe the next one, two, three weeks or so based on how the weather holds up, because you know that we would have done 25 grounds and we spent $10 Million each. Those projects are coming to the end of their completion now, they’re being completed and from what I’ve seen so far, it’s very exciting stuff,” he said.
The National Stadium in Providence will host the matches for the ICC Under-19 World Cup while the Everest Cricket Club will be used as a warm-up venue. The tournament will run from January 14 to February 5, 2022 with Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago confirmed as other venues.