WI local: Maple delight

In a virtual carbon copy of last season, Maple plan to claim maximum points as a result of Police's inability to field a team in their latest Courts/Suzuki Division 1 cricket match.

With more than 200 members of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) on sick-leave, Police's cricketers were asked to report for duty over the weekend to supplement any shortfall.

It meant that Police, the defending Division 1 cricket champions, could not be represented for Saturday's opening day of their fourth round match against Maple at Weymouth 'A'.

Maple turned up at the ground on Saturday, but were told by a Police official that the club had informed the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) on Friday they would be unable to field a team.

Last season when the RBPF was affected by a sick-out, the lawmen faced a similar situation against the same team.

When contacted yesterday, Maple captain Pedro Agard said the St. James-based club was likely to take advantage of the cops' situation.

'Our position is the same as last season. Last October, when we played them at Trents, they could not field a team. In that situation we claimed the eight points and that is what we are going to do again,' Agard told Nationsport.

It is not a situation where we plan to accommodate anybody by playing over a game.

'Even so, when will we play it? When the season finishes, it will be almost Christmas,' Agard added.

Rule 15 of the BCA's Special Conditions and Regulations of Play for Season 2000 states that every club must play the fixtures which the board shall arrange.

'No variation of any nature whatsoever shall be made in the fixtures arranged by the board, except with the previous consent of the board,' the rule says.

The last paragraph reads: 'If any team shall fail to be ready to commence play at the scheduled time on each day of any match, then the board may without application being made to them, award such match to the other team taking part therein, or penalise the defaulting team in any other manner, or make any other ruling which they may think fit.'

In the lower divisions, Police were to complete the third and last day of their Intermediate Premier Zone match against Bristol at Old Coleridge on Saturday, while their Division 2 side was to start a match against Barclays at Highgate.