West Indies Carlos Brathwaite hits a six during the fi nal of the ICC World Twenty20 2016. Associated Press / Bikas Das;
File
By George Alleyne
Talk to any Barbados footballer player,
coach or administrator and that person
is likely to moan that the sport is among
a few that just cannot catch a break.
Categorized as a contact sport, the
COVID Monitoring Unit (CMU) has been
reluctant to give the sport the green
light to resume competitive matches
and just when earlier this month football
was permitted to do drills and skills
training only, the island was hit with a
spike in the pandemic causing that limited
permission to be cancelled amid a
partial national curfew.
As if that was not bad enough, a
planned series of friendly practice
matches with the senior national players
and Iceland also had to be cancelled.
These matches were intended to be
warm-up games for the Barbados Tridents
as they gear up for a Confederation
of North, Central America and
Caribbean Football (CONCACAF) March
Caribbean L 34 ife, January 15-21, 2021
fixture against Panama in the Gold Cup
competition in March, out of which
teams will qualify for FIFA 2022 World
Cup in Qatar.
Following the Panama encounter, the
Tridents will this year play Anguilla,
Dominican Republic and Dominica.
Officials suspended football in Barbados
since March 15 last year.
“We are particularly concerned about
our national teams, as they have not
been able to compete for over nine
months. However, internationally, competitions
are being scheduled to resume
in March, and our players will be at a
serious disadvantage against stronger
opposition, if their training does not
include competitive tournaments,” the
Nation newspaper reported Barbados
Football Association President, Randy
Harris, saying.
He added, “the CMU has classified
football as a contact sport, and thus it
makes it very difficult to manage island
wide competitions. We accept that position,
but we are hopeful that at some
point, we can be given permission to
resume our sport as usual.”
Health
protocols
Continued from Page 33
over the tour and were convinced the
protocols were consistent with what
had been executed on recent previous
tours.
He said the exact protocols are the
same as what transpired in England
and also New Zealand.
“We’ve had extensive meetings
with Cricket West Indies and
their team and our team led by Dr.
Andre Cooke who guided us through
because we’re not medical doctors,”
he told Starcom Radio’s Mason and
Guest cricket show in Barbados last
week.
Ten first class West Indies players
opted out of the Bangladesh series,
which comprises three ODIs, and
two Tests, with CWI citing “COVID-
19 related concerns or personal reasons.”
CWI agreed to the tour after Dr.
Akshai Mansingh, a director and
member of its medical advisory
committee, carried out a review of
the facilities and protocols in a trip
to Bangladesh last November and
gave the safety mechanisms a huge
endorsement.
Those who arrived on Sunday
will undergo COVID-19 tests after
which they will isolate themselves in
their hotel rooms before being tested
again.
West Indies will play a warm up
One-Day International at the BKSP
ground in Savar on Jan. 18, before
the first One-Day International on
Jan. 20.
Barbados-born England all-rounder
Chris Jordan is among the foreign players
indicating his participation in the
sixth edition of the showpiece set to run
from February 20 to March 22.
Gayle, the most successful Twenty20
batsman ever with 13,584 runs and
22 centuries from all 41 matches, has
been installed in the platinum category
along with his West Indies counterparts
and the likes of Afghan superstar spin
bowler, Rashid Khan and South African
fast bowler, Dayle Steyn.
In the past, Jamaican Gayle has
turned out for reigning champions
Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars,
two of the six franchises which feature
in the tournament, but he did not feature
in the 2020 edition.
Islamabad United, Multan Sultans,
Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators
make up the remainder of the teams.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted
last year’s tournament, forcing the fixture
to be halted at the end of the preliminary
round in March. The tournament
resumed last November with the
playoffs.
Continued from Page 33
West Indies’ Romario Shepherd
bowls during a training session
ahead of their fi rst Twenty20
cricket match against India, in
Hyderabad, India, Wednesday,
Dec. 4, 2019. Associated Press/Mahesh
Kumar A.,File
Continued from Page 33
GAYLE TO PLAY QUETTA GLADIATORS
Windies ODI
squad
Poor luck dogs Barbados football matches
Caribbean Football Union President,
Randy Harris. Photo by George Alleyne