Debasis Sen, Port of Spain: It was meant to be a grand celebration, showcasing 125 years of the Queen’s Park Cricket Club. Legends like Sir Garry Sobers, Sir Everton Weekes was invited along with Sunil Gavaskar and Brian Lara. A book was commissioned to celebrate the glorious history of a club that stretched back to 1891, producing the likes of Jeff and Victor Stollemeyer, Micheal “Joey” Carew, Charlie and Bryan Davis, and of course, the incomparable Brian Lara.
Instead, it turned out to leave a black spot in the history of the prestigious club as no play was possible for consecutive second day in spite of scorching sunshine. The third day’s play of the West Indies-India Test was abandoned at 12.30pm local time despite no rain falling till that stage. There was a 10 minute spell of heavy rain in the morning instead of an otherwise sunny day.
A host of reasons were being offered for the shambles that played out. Firstly, this is the season for rain in Trinidad and it was a bit surprising for the West Indies Cricket Board to keep the test match at this time. Secondly, the host organization i.e., the Queens Park Cricket Club was busy organizing its 125 years celebration rather than paying attention to the hosting of test match. Thirdly, it was suggested that a non-cricket event had been staged recently on parts of the outfield, causing some regions to get flattened.
While all of these reasons must play a part in contributing to the mess the Queen’s Park Oval has fallen some way short as an international venue. It would not have helped much in this case, but the fact that the ground does not own a SuperSopper in the year 2016 is telling. The fact that only the square was covered on the first two days, exposing the bowlers’ run ups and leaving them unplayable, was a definite error in judgment from the ground staff.
On the third day, with the sun blazing down, the ground staff resorted to something you will almost never see at a cricket ground. Large swathes of the outfield were dug up and turned over with pitchforks in the hope that the sun would dry out the layers under that had retained moisture. Blowers sending out heated air were pressed into service, but it was clear quite early on that these efforts would be in vain. If this was the best way to dry the outfield, then the time to try it would have been when the rain stopped on Day 1, not wait till the third day. What sums it all is that the Queens Park Cricket Club will bore a black spot in an otherwise glorious past.