Providence Stadium preparation on track, ready to host CPL opener on Nov 11

Sep 27, 2016, Sports, http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....pl-opener-on-nov-11/

Stadium at Providence was built at a cost of US$30Milllion from grants and loans from the Indian Government for the ICC 2007 Cricket World Cup.

Four pitches at the venue which will celebrate its tenth Anniverary next year and has hosted two Tests, 16 ODIs & 5 T20Is, are currently being relayed after criticisms of them being too slow and unsuitable for International cricket.

The soil for the original ‘square’ was sourced from Mahaica which is predominantly a rice producing area on the East Coast of Demerara and it is felt that Chemicals used in the Rice industry contributed to the poor quality of the soil.

It is a also believed that high stand content of the ground makes it arguable the fastest drying International cricket ground in the World but that has also contributed to low and slow nature of the Providence pitches over the years.

However, the practice pitches at the back of the ground received several compliments from International batsmen who batted on the pitches which had truer pace, bounce and carry than the ones on the ground.

According to Wazim Habib, tasked with preparing the ‘nets’ pitches, the foundation of the six ‘match’ pitches has five inches of sand while the ones at the back has no sand base.

Habib, who hails from the East Coast Village of Enterprise, is now the Head Curator at the Providence Stadium and disclosed that four pitches were dug-up in mid August. The ‘old soil’ was replaced with soil from Enterprise with higher clay content and the foundation changed.

“There are six pitches on the square here but we are only relaying the four in the middle where the TV cameras focus on and that are mainly used for International games. We are replacing the five inches of sand in the foundation of the square with five inches of Crush & Run (small stones that are used for road foundation) and then put eight inches of soil on that,” Habib explained.

The experienced Curator informed that there were some delays due to unseasonal rain but added newly laid square is on target for completion by next month and should be used for the Regional Super50 in January 2017.

The Stadium will host the opening round of the CPL four-day tournament slated to start on November 11, while the other game for the year is scheduled for December 16-19.

“Those two matches will be played on the pitch which was not touched and on which the Unity match when Gayle got a century. Grass will be planted on the relayed surface in two weeks time so it will ready for the players to run on,” Habib pointed out.

Sandy patches were noticed on the ground it was revealed that the Guyana Franchise players are allowed to use the Staidum twice per week but have not used the facility since the GCB Jaguars Franchise League began this month.

“When their pegs steer up the dirt the grass roots are weakened and Mole Crickets eat the grass which is casing the bald areas where you see the sand,” Habib explained.

It was disclosed that Chemicals are available to control the insects but that would be done at a later date when fertilizer will also be used to replenish the grass on the outfield which will then be cut and rolled.

“We have to veriticut the ground so we can’t put the Chemicals on the ground as yet,” Habib added.

According to Habib to ‘veriticut’ the ground simply means that a special mower will chip the grass on the outfield which will then be used to grow grass on the pitches since this is a faster method of producing grass than planting it by using grass seeds.

Assistant Stadium Manager Mahinder Ghanshiam said that painting of the exterior of the stands have already been completed while grilling of the Hospitality Boxes have already been done.

The Guyana Fire Service will be pleased that the Fire Boxes in the stands are 100% completed and minor repairs to the Fire Hydrants are almost fully done.

“Tickets for the Stands are marked Red, Green, Orange and Mound and steps and exterior of the stands were painted in white so to make it easier for spectators to indentify the Stands we have painted the steps in the color of the stands,” Ghanshiam informed.

Long serving Stadium Manager Anthony Xavier said that the Stadium had written to the Enterprise ground committee seeking a donation of the earth and disclosed that the approximate cost to relay the pitches and to transport the soil to the Staidum from East Coast was $3Million.

He too is confident that everything will be ready by November 11 when Guyana Jaguars face T&T’ Red Force at Providence.