HAROON LORGAT, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the International Cricket Council (ICC), stated that there will be few day/night matches at the 2010 Twenty20 World Cup due to the needs of the game’s major television audiences, in England, South Africa, India and Australia.
The World Cup will take place here in the Caribbean from April 30 to May 16.
“The dominant markets that will be watching the games, if we (in the WI) were playing at nights, you’re talking about 3 am in those markets,” admitted Lorgat, during the recent launch of the World Cup Ticket Sales Launch at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados.
“Whether there are men playing or women playing, it’s a difficult time of the night to be sitting up and watching cricket,” he added. “In order to balance that, the fixtures (in the WI) are starting in the mornings and afternoons, so you’ve got prime time or some time available in the late afternoons or evenings in the dominant markets across the globe where the cricket will be watched.
“The reality is, as much as we want spectators in the venues, we need to ensure we’ve got eyeballs in the game as well.”
According to the tournament’s schedule, in the Semi Finals (on May 13 and 14) in St Lucia and the Final, the men’s matches will be staged before the women’s game.
Lorgat admitted that those arrangements were made to cater for the television audience.
“That might have been the trickiest part we had to face in scheduling,” said Lorgat. “The greatest challenge we had from the television viewership and the (main) broadcaster who’s got certain perimeters, to which they had to ensure their returns.
“In order to balance all of that, the unfortunate reality is (this scenario),” he added. “We have scheduled the matches for viewership in prime time – not necessarily in the stadiums – but in other markets around the globe.”
Another major issue is the fact that there will be no regional Twenty20 tournament before World Cup.
“I think it will be difficult between now and April to have a Twenty20 tournament,” said Ernest Hilaire, CEO of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). He said that the West Indies players will be involved in a three-Test tour of Australia this month, followed by the regional four-day tournament from January until March, as well as a one-day tour of Australia in February and an international series at home against Zimbabwe.
“There’s virtually no space for us to have a Twenty20 tournament,” Hilaire stated.
He said that, between now and 2012, the Board will be looking at available time periods where a Twenty20 tournament can be staged. But, he insisted that Twenty20 internationals are part of the package during the series against Australia and Zimbabwe.
“You do not need to have a regional Twenty20 tournament for the team to prepare but we are trying to ensure that the team plays enough Twenty20 matches leading up to the Twenty20 World Cup,” he said.
The Kensington Oval was chosen as the venue for the Final on May 16.
Concerning the location for the Final, Hilaire pointed out, “we were motivated by a desire to have facilities that can accommodate the largest number of spectators, and a facility that has been tried and tested, (and) be able to host the final of what is the biggest Twenty20 tournament in the world.
“As such, Barbados became a logical choice of the three venues that were chosen to host matches,” Hilaire said.Concerning the ‘semis’, the Board decided to award the games to St Lucia due to the fact that, during the month of May, it will be the rainy period in Guyana.
But Hilaire said that Guyana was given the privilege of hosting some First Round matches (April 30 to May 3).
Robert Bryan, the Tournament Director, stated that the WICB is keen to learn from the mistakes made during the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup here in the Caribbean.
“I think the way that this tournament has been structured, in terms of the ticketing and pricing, it shows that we’ve learnt from that,” said Bryan. He noted that the Board does not have to deal with the additional burden of building venues to host the matches. “We’re able, much earlier, to focus on the event planning, organisation and execution,” he said.
