Browne not running for cover

“Do not blame the National Sports Council; blame the LOC and the Cricket Association”. That was the response of Manager of the National Sports Council Osbourne Browne when questioned about the porous state of the cricket covers at the Arnos Vale Playing Field.{{more}}

The National Sports Council’s management has been under the fire over the past weeks as several hours of play have been lost during matches of the RBTT Premier Division of the national cricket competition because of inadequate covers.

But Browne in response pointed to the lack of foresight of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association.

In an exclusive interview with SEARCHLIGHT last Tuesday, Browne said, “It will be difficult to use the covers bought by the LOC as it takes more than two dozen persons to move them”.

“If we are to focus on that, it means that all of the council’s work will be held up from Wednesday to Sunday. One piece of the covers weighs about 3300 lbs”, he added.

“One solution the council forwarded was to cut the covers and we advised the CEO of the LOC and nothing was done and we don’t have the authority to do that”, Browne said.

He further stated that three years ago, the council had agreed to purchase covers with the cricket association, but according to Browne, it was only the council that held its end of the bargain.

Acknowledging that the covers are not in the best condition, Browne opined that part of the cause of their porous state was players piercing them with their spikes.

Browne is advising the Julian Jack led cricket association to utilize some of the funds obtained from the Stanford 20/20 arrangements to invest in some covers to facilitate the smooth running of its competitions.

Dismissing the notion that the council is cricket biased, Browne said, “All sports are equal”.

“Does the council provide nets for football, for table tennis, netball or tennis for that matter?” Browne, a former St. Vincent and the Grenadines leg spinner questioned.

Cricket pundits say that had the situation been more favourable, the outcome of the premier would have been different.

One team at the receiving end of the unfortunate avoidable occurrence was Spartans who finished the competition on 60 points but were denied maximum points in at least two of their matches when they were in good positions.

Last weekend at the same venue, several hours were lost after water seeped under the covers.