Jamaica’s cricket was left with a black eye after match officials called off the opening day of the regional four-day contest between Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) and Barbados Pride at Chedwin Park because of a wet outfield.

The Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) Operations and Development Manager O’neil Cruickshank says the issue arose not from heavy rain which pelted much of the island over recent days, but from a sprinkler hose which was left on in a section of the field near the boundary rope.

“The report that we have is that some time there was a hose inadvertently left unattended to [overnight from Monday into Tuesday] and it caused serious flooding on one side of the outfield,” he told the
Jamaica Observer after the officials declared the abandonment of the day’s play.

Cruickshank said that while the abandonment is bad “optics”, it was not for lack of effort on the part of the ground staff at the St Catherine-based venue.

“Despite the best efforts of the ground staff, they were unable to rectify. The optics of it is not good, but from what I’ve seen, I still have to applaud the groundsmen for the effort they have made.”

He said the staff have been working on the saturated area since early on Tuesday.

“The area was flooded, they bailed water, they used sponges and other things to get the water off. They thought they had done enough leading into today but unfortunately when they came this [Wednesday] morning the area was still too damp. And the umpires didn’t think it was safe enough to have the players on the field.

“The groundsmen are still working to ensure that come tomorrow [Thursday morning], the game starts on time. The rest of the field is very dry, very good, very nice except for that area. It’s a small enough area but it significant when you talk about the players’ safety,” Cruickshank said.