JCA pleased with readiness of WICB U-15 tourney

COURTNEY Francis, the chief executive officer of the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA), says he is pleased with the country's readiness to stage the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Under-15 tournament, starting July 22.

All matches are scheduled for the Corporate Area.

Kensington Park, Melbourne Oval, Up Park Camp, the Police Sports Complex on Elletson Road, and the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona Campus are the venues to be used.

Jamaica were also the hosts of the Under-15 competition last year, staging matches in St Elizabeth as Trinidad & Tobago took the title. Jamaica finished in a disappointing fifth place.

Many team officials were pleased with aspects of last year's tournament. Francis said he wants to build on the positives, despite the more compact nature of the 2014 edition.

"The teams liked what we had last year, especially the development tour. It was a success and, had it not been a success, I don't think the West Indies Cricket Board would have sent it back here," the local cricket CEO told the Jamaica Observer.

"We want to build on that. We had a meeting, as recent as Friday, with all out stakeholders. We have a team of persons who will be visiting all the venues before Monday just to have first-hand sighting to ensure everything is in place. I'm comfortable where the planning is."

Francis said teams will be housed at the UWI Campus. He added that a medical team will be at all the venues and affirmed that match personnel, teams' liaison officers, book scorers and transportation providers have all been identified. Renowned grass-roots cricket coach Phillip Service is the coordinator of the event.

Given the prolonged and extreme dry spell that the country has been experiencing, Francis cautioned that the outfields will likely be in less than ideal condition.

"We have a drought in town (Kingston), so the outfield at the venues won't be as lush as we would like. That's the climactic conditions and we have to work with it because it's something that is islandwide," he said.

The 19th season of the Regional Under-15 tournament will consist of a round-robin format of 50-over cricket matches. The team tallying the most points over the five rounds will be the champion.