00:00The T20 World Cup is less than a month away with matches taking place in the USA and
00:04West Indies. As such, fans would want an update as to how things are shaping up
00:08for the prestigious event. Omar Khan, who's a member of the local organizing
00:12committee, is pleased with the way things are running. Very well, all the
00:16preparations are in place, you know, all the schedules and all the works that
00:20have been scheduled are on time, in terms of the time frame that we had set, and the
00:25facility is ready to be hosting the World Cup matches. In fact, as you are
00:30aware, we have a warm-up period. Trinidad and Tobago is one of the only Caribbean
00:34countries that have been selected to host the warm-up or the support period, as we
00:38call it. Ten teams were supposed to arrive in Trinidad, which is a practice
00:42hub. However, one is missing, with Khan providing details on all of them. Nine
00:47teams will be coming to Trinidad from as early as May 21st, and we have the Oman
00:51team arriving here. So, and from May 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th, we have the
00:57other eight teams arriving, including Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Uganda,
01:02Papua New Guinea, Afghanistan. All those teams are coming in for the warm-up
01:06period or the support period, which will be officially held from May 25th to the
01:1131st of May. Well, I know that there were supposed to be ten teams coming. What is
01:15the situation with England? England is playing Pakistan in a
01:20T20 series, actually, in England, and from that series, they go straight to
01:24Barbados. So, they will not be coming to Trinidad. There are five matches being
01:28held in Trinidad, which includes one of the two semi-finals. According to Khan,
01:32the ICC has its team, which constantly liaises with those in Trinidad who are
01:37working on the Taruba-based facility. Our CWI people and our venue inspection
01:43team and our head of venues, Mr. Harish Raghunath, so they are all liaising with
01:47Harish to ensure that everything is in place, and from the last meeting we had,
01:50right, all reports, they are very happy with all the reports. You know, Mr.
01:54Crafton has been visiting here quite regularly to make sure the pitch and the
01:58outfield is up to world-class standard, and his latest report is 100
02:02percent satisfied with the work that has been done on the pitch
02:06and outfield. Khan says, since this is not a bilateral series, but an actual ICC
02:12tournament, measures will be in place for fans attending matches. As such, the
02:17safety and security guidelines have to be followed. So I could give you a little
02:20clue, for example, we will not be having any parking. Fans will not be allowed to
02:24park around this facility or around the stadium that the Barnau Academy, Barnau
02:28Cricket Academy, which will be the home, the matches, the group matches will be
02:32held here, right, so they will not be allowed to park around the match venue, right, so
02:36we'll be implementing what we call a park-and-ride system, and we'll be
02:40providing more information over the next couple of weeks with regards to that. The
02:44LOC member says there will be lots of entertainment for fans at the venue,
02:47with a fan zone where they can buy merchandise and partake in giveaways.
02:51Vinod Narayan, ETV6 reporting.
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