Sabina is Ready to Roll
I was at Sabina Park this afternoon, where everything is in place and ready for the opening game tomorrow. An almost completely new facility is a hive of activity as work crews attend to final details and organisers make sure that everything is 'under manners'.
Zimbabwean players were running through their paces and the groundsmen were busy preparing the pitch upon which the West Indies and Pakistan will launch their World Cup bids.Despite last minute concerns about the seats, there is no appearance of unreadiness to be found anywhere. Personnel exude a relaxed assuredness which inspires a confidence in me that I regret to say was not there as recently as a few weeks ago.
The new Sabina Park is impressive, to say the least. Clean, shiny, and new, it rises up out of the city and dominates the district near the water. The outfield, which historically was dry and brown, is now lush and verdant, and two modern scoreboards complete the picture. Only the Members Stand remains as most would remember it.In the centre, the wicket was cut and in the process of being prepared. Brown with a hint of green, it looked from the boundary like something that neither a batsman nor a bowler should find too much to quarrel with.
I actually went to Sabina to attend a press conference which was called for at least one other venue before Sabina, but was unhelpfully switched again to the Hilton at the last minute. Since there was no way to make the conference in time, I chose instead to wander through the facility and observe what ah gwaan.
One thing the has struck me at both this venue and Trelawny, was the pleasant friendliness and crisp efficiency of the people working there. Rushmans, the English company contracted to manage the media and accreditation process, has been struggling through a deluge of late applications, but when I arrived, forewarned of expected problems, I was amazed at how well they have coped with the challenges. The almost completely Jamaican staff worked through the problems, took my photo, and presented me with my pass in a matter of minutes. Those of us from the Caribbean or who have spent any time here know that this is often not how things work here.
While I waited in Trelawny at the Media Centre for my pass to be laminated, a fellow beside me presented the lady with his application -- which should have been filed months ago -- and instead of turning him away the lady politely explained that it was going to be difficult but promised that she would do her very best to have it processed by the end of the end. As he left, she rushed off to start working on it.
At Sabina, I arrived with no real information about the hastily announced press conference. Although nobody knew anything about it, one of the women working at a desk detached herself to accompany me to someone who was busy arranging things who then took the time to find out what I needed to know. He seemed as annoyed as me when he learned that the venue had been changed. All of these people were local people, producing a local event.
Nobody can say which West Indies team will show up tomorrow, whether it will be the motley crew that were trundled out for an embarrassing 84 last week, or the world beaters who beat India in the West Indies recently and won the ICC Trophy in England a few years ago. That much is beyond the control of any of the organisers. But as for the rest of it, the logistics of hosting the first match of one of the largest events ever seen in the Caribbean, Sabina Park is ready to roll.