Board fumes at pedestrian stadium work

The Carib Beer and KFC matches between and the Windward Islands and Jamaica have had to be switched from St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) to St Lucia owing to problems with building work at Sion Hill Playing Field.

Julian Jack, the S VG Cricket Association president, said that the contractors cannot complete the new pavilion in time and the workers preparing the outfield advised against playing there. "The contractors are working towards the January 31 deadline and appear not too motivated about increasing the level of work to accommodate us," Jack said. "On the matter of the outfield we were told that it would not be wise to use the field and push back preparations in by a week ahead of the handing over to the ICC, so it was decided based on these things to inform the Windwards Board of the situation."

Lennox John, the president of the Windwards board, said he too was extremely disappointed about the pedestrian pace at which the work at Sion Hill was progressing. "This has robbed cricket fans here from seeing the likes of Chris Gayle and Jerome Taylor who are two of the top West Indies cricketers now. I really think that with a little more effort in the work on the pavilion we would have been able to take that game.I am really disappointed."