THE FIELD at Kensington Oval won’t be an issue ahead of the Sagicor Super Cup final. Neither will the pitch.
Chief executive officer of Kensington Oval Management Inc. (KOMI), Henry Inniss, has given the assurance that all will be ready for next Sunday’s grand finale despite the recent heavy traffic of football at the Oval.
“The field was made for that kind of wear and tear as it is a sand-based field that stands up to that kind of traffic once you give it some days to recover,” said Inniss in a wide-ranging telephone interview with SUNSPORT.
“The square does get temporary damage though, but we roll it back out and it is ready a few days after because once you wet and roll the pitch, then it is good to go to come back.”
“And this is a standard operating procedure once you have any use of the square other than cricket. We have experienced staff and they know football will be played just before the Sagicor Cup so we will be ready to go,” he added.
Inniss’ comments came in response to concerns expressed over the state of Kensington’s pitch area following the recent spate of football matches over the last four weeks.
The LIME Pelican Challenge has been playing every Sunday since September 9, save for the week that saw the Oval host six group matches in the Caribbean Football Union’s Championships over three nights.
And three additional matches in the LIME Pelican Challenge are slated for Kensington tomorrow, leaving some cricket pundits uneasy over the possible readiness of the pitch and outfield for a limited overs final scheduled just some seven days later.
“Barring torrential rains falling at the same time that football is being played, we should be good to go,” Inniss asserted.
“And even then, if we get good sun over the next couple days then the pitch should still be ready. But this isn’t the first time we had football just before hosting a major cricket match, so I am confident that we should have no problems once we wet and roll the square.”
Republic Bank St Catherine’s are scheduled to play CGI Maple at Trents, St James while TeleBarbados Carlton face Sagicor UWI at 3Ws Oval in this weekend’s semi-finals before the winners advance to the big finale at Kensington Oval.
