Guyana braced for stadium chaos

All is not well at Guyana's Providence Stadium ... © Getty Images

Reports of major problems at Guyana's Providence Stadium continue to do the rounds, and a media release from the ICC appears to underline that all is not well.

Last Friday, World Cup officials relieved the local organising committee of control of the $25 million ground, with a British company taking charge in an effort to salvage the project ahead of the match between South Africa and Sri Lanka on March 28. Amongst the myriad problems at the venue were failures to provide security and crowd control turnstiles, poor accreditation facilities and video boards. Power shortages were also expected to blight the Indian-built venue.

Now the ICC has warned journalists that they must expect "challenges" when covering games at the stadium. Although extra personnel have been flown in to try to help, the ICC admitted that it was "yet to be provided with a fully operational Accreditation Centre, 12 days after the required delivery date."

The statement concluded: "'Whilst our team on the ground is doing everything within its power to provide full service, media may experience intermittent power interruptions and limited internet capacity and connectivity."

Journalists will also be unable to use the proposed media parking area which was badly affected by the recent heavy rainfall and was also deemed to be too far away from the facility.