Mystery surrounds the absence of umpires at Friday’s semi-finals of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) Schools’ Under-13 competition.
No one seems to know exactly why umpires were not present at Lears or Passage Road for the important junior fixtures in which all four schools turned up ready to play.
The Lodge School and Alexandra went through their warmups at Lears in anticipation for the 11 a.m. start; however, both teams were left disappointed as no umpires arrived to supervise the pre-match toss and the game itself.
Cricketers at the ground confirmed that umpires only arrived approximately an hour and a half after the scheduled start time, by which time the Alexandra team had already left for their return trip to Speightstown, St Peter.
At approximately 12:40 p.m, cricketers from the Lodge School were seen packing their gear bags into a van after consuming their BCA-provided lunch.
Over at Passage Road, Christ Church Foundation School and Graydon Sealy Secondary were met with a similar situation as no umpires showed at the ground for the start of play.
Lodge School coach Clifton Phillips stated that his boys were ready for the semi-final and confirmed that everything at the ground was in place except the umpires.
An official within the BCA confirmed to Barbados TODAY that all usual preparations were made for the two matches, including notifying the Barbados Cricket Umpires Association (BCUA) which assigns umpires to cricket matches.
The BCA official added that the BCUA acknowledged their correspondence.
Secretary of the BCUA, Tremaine Prescod said he saw no e-mail correspondence.
“The BCA normally communicate through e-mail, so I can’t say they didn’t communicate [at all] but for this semi-final, I saw no correspondence through the e-mail. After I actually heard about it [today], I went back to the e-mails, I skimmed through the e-mail [and] I had no correspondence about this semi-final,” he said.
“I am speaking under correction but I am more sure someone spoke to someone from the BCUA but it wasn’t me the secretary. I knew nothing about this game till I started getting phone calls and Whatsapp messages. We [BCUA] mainly heard when people were calling and asking [today].”
BCUA committee of management member Andrew Corbin did not go into detail on the matter.
Cricket Operations and Development Manager of the BCA Wendell Coppin confirmed that the Under-13 semi-finals were scheduled for Friday.
“Everything that would normally be done for a cricket game was done. I am trying to find out what happened as well,” he said. “I haven’t got reports yet from the school or the umpires association or the two venues. I asked for a report as well.”
Alexandra coach Renaldo Parris said he was not sure what transpired, but his boys were left disappointed.
“When we got there, only the groundsmen were there and when we finished warm-ups no umpires were present,” he said, noting that he was present an hour and 15 minutes before the scheduled start.
“I saw the guys bringing lunch around 12 p.m., that’s when we were leaving. I got a call from the other semi-final at Passage Road and they said apparently they had issues at their ground in terms of the pitch. They said that no umpires were there as well.”
Parris added: “We had preparations for the entire week and last week. Boys took time even after exams to practise and they were looking forward to this match for the last two weeks,” said Parris.
“I believe that any time you have a BCA semi-final, quarter-final or final, a BCA rep should always be at the game. We should not have to call to find out what is going on.”
rohansonnwaithe@barbadostoday.bb
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