Rahul Bhattacharya, the Wisden Cricinfo writer suggested in a recent article that “the pillars upon which a (cricket) venue must be built upon are: spectator comfort, player facilities, a well-maintained ground, and sufficient provisions for the media.” [ please note: link provided by LOSP web site ]

Taking this reasonable position into consideration against what transpired during the Red Stripe Bowl Zone A in Jamaica, it is no wonder that the entire region is shifting uneasily when thoughts of us successfully hosting the 2007 World Cup are entertained.

I covered all the matches in Zone A for this newspaper and the Caribbean Media Corporation and the treatment meted out to the media, spectators and sometimes officials was poorer than I have experienced anywhere for this level of cricket.

For the opening match at the Sir Frank Worrell Oval at the University of the West Indies ground, it was intended for the media to be accommodated under a tent to the north eastern section of the ground. In this day and age when cricket writers type their stories as the game progresses on laptops, the organisers did not see it fit to provide any electricity outlets which is mandatory at any level of games these days.

Had it not been for the television crew allowing the media to use their electricity, work would have been difficult, if possible.

There was no proper monitoring of the tent as all manner of individuals invaded the area and left the journalists without seats or space to work. What was most ludicrous was the fact that no table was provided for the media.

Electricity and tables and sometimes even chairs were a huge problem for the media, particularly the print media.

Kensington Park in Kingston was a tragedy. Not only was the outfield not cut, but the grass was so high that the Jamaican batsmen virtually refused to hit fours early in the innings as it was an unwise option with the ball holding up long before it got anywhere close to the boundary.

In Jamaica’s innings, 16 sixes were hit compared to 12 fours. It is the only game in the competition in which more sixes were hit in an innings than fours. So un- acceptably lush was the grass that the outfield had blossoming flowers growing thickly on it. I kid you not.

Garfield Meyers, the sports editor of the Jamaica Observer, wrote in his column ‘Watching Cricket’, that “the grass has been so high at most grounds that some of us have wondered whether those responsible got cricket confused with football.”

At the UWI ground, the umpires did not have all the necessary equipment needed to calculate the Duckworth/ Lewis formula. I had to do this for them on my laptop as was the case at some other venues.

It is unbelievable that the Jamaica Cricket Association did not put the necessary measures in place to ensure that the umpires be able to calculate the Duckworth/Lewis system by computer at the highest level of domestic cricket in the West Indies.

Apart from the Alpart ground where a computer was provided, the umpires begged and depended on media personnel to use their computers to calculate the formula. Is this the slapdash level of organisation that we expect to host World Cup 2007?

Meyers went on further in his column, “We have had situations over the past couple of weeks where hosts simply do not know how to accommodate the working media; where security has been poor with spectators infringing on the space of players, officials and media; where sanitary conveniences have been so few and inadequate, spectators have had to line up to use them.”

Apart from the Jamalco ground where organisers had the media, officials and spectators adequately accommodated, the venue organisation and management for Zone A in Jamaica was poor.

It is unbelievable, that to this day, the West Indies Cricket Board, nor the regional boards have not yet drafted a proper Venue Management Manual. Such a manual should spell out in detail what the organisers at each venue should cater for and in what manner. It should have step-by-step instructions as to how to accommodate players, spectators and the media. This is necessary since, even though some venues have been hosting first class matches for decades, they still have little clue as to how to go about doing so in a decent manner.

With a manual to work from, organisers will not be left to prepare for matches in any manner that they feel is proper or improper. At the moment, too many of them treat these important matches like curry goat cricket and organise them just the same.