(CMC) – SPORTS authorities here are confident Guyana will get the nod as one of the official host venues for this year’s Women’s Twenty20 World Cup.
The country has put in a bid for the government-owned national stadium to host matches during the November 3-24 showpiece and believes the odds are in its favour.
“I rather suspect because of the fact that the stadium is owned by government and because the stadium has no branding on it, this puts Guyana in a position where we can very likely be one of the four to host the Women’s International World Cup,” said Director of Sport Christopher Jones.
The Guyana National Stadium at Providence was one of 11 venues inspected by the International Cricket Council (ICC) last November, in preparation for the upcoming tournament.
Venues in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, St Lucia, Jamaica, Antigua and St Kitts were also visited by the ICC team.
In order to host games during the tournament, the country will have to meet several prerequisites like ensuring the erection of a replay screen at the stadium.
Jones said while the national budget had made provisions for some of the costs associated with hosting the World Cup, talks were underway with the Ministry of Finance to ensure everything was approved.
“We are still engaging the Ministry of Finance with a view of reprioritising some of those requests from the budget that would have been made by the various facilities,” Jones noted.
“Those discourses are still ongoing and we are confident we will see the allocations being made available.”
It emerged last month that two of the region’s major cricketing nations, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, were set to miss out as venues after failing to submit bids.
Eight countries – South Africa, England, Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and title-holders West Indies – have already qualified for the showpiece.
Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Uganda and two Asia qualifiers will vie for the two remaining spots courtesy of a qualifier in the Netherlands next June.
