Cricket at Candlestick? Not quite (28 July 1999)

28 July 1999

Cricket at Candlestick? Not quite

Rick Eyre, CricInfo365 Editor

The good ship "International All Star Cup" continues to take water today as more and more of the grandiose plans of its promoters, PostMedia Group, spring a leak. Investigations establish the non-participation of more of the announced players, while the start of the series has been pushed back and changed to a different venue.

The "Asia v the World" series was set for a spectacular opening at San Francisco's 3Com Park, known for years as Candlestick Park, on Tuesday August 3. The home of the San Francisco 49'ers football team, and baseball's San Francisco Giants, this 70000-capacity grass stadium, the scene of the Beatles' live concert in 1966, this was touted as the venue of the meeting of the world's finest cricketers, a new dawn for the game in the United States of America.

But, no.

The San Francisco leg of the tournament has been postponed and relocated. Instead of being the first game of the three-match series, the tournament will wind up in the Bay City on Tuesday August 10. The venue? Kezar Stadium.

The home of the 49'ers from 1946 until they moved to Candlestick in 1971, the original 60,000-capacity stadium on this site was demolished in 1989 to be replaced by the current facility, which includes a soccer field circled by an athletics track, and seating for 10,000 spectators. "Total Football" encyclopedia says of Kezar Stadium's current use in its 1997 edition: "Still standing, but in disrepair."

Post Media Group's website states that the match will begin at 3pm local time, which indicates that the 50 over-a-side game will finish at night. Let's hope Kezar Stadium has floodlighting strong enough to watch that white ball fly out of the football-ground sized field.

Meanwhile, international-quality list of star players looks less international, less quality and less stellar. CricInfo learned today that both Paul Reiffel and Mark Taylor will not be taking part in the tournament, despite having been named by the promoters in the latest update of the World XI squad. Reiffel's manager did confirm to us that the Victorian pace bowler, who retired from international cricket last week, was approached by representatives of Post Media Group.

The "Asia XI" as it appears on the PMG website today consists of precisely eleven players with no substitutes for the three-match series. With six Sri Lankans and five Indians named, former Test debut centurion Praveen Amre is the latest withdrawal from the Indian players named earlier this week.

As it stands at the moment, the first match of the "International All-Star Cup" will be played at Columbia University, New York on Friday August 6, beginning 3pm local time, another floodlit finish. (Original publicity for the series announced that the New York game would be played at Shea Stadium. Unfortunately the Mets had a prior booking for the ground that evening.) Game two will be at the SkyDome, Toronto, at 10.30am Sunday August 8, before the series winds up in San Francisco the following Tuesday.

For those who are interested in seeing any of these matches, the promoters' web site (https://www.postmediagroup.com/) publicising the tournament has information.

Source :: CricInfo365