By Tony Becca,
Senior Sport Editor
THE ST. Ann Cricket Association has protested the Jamaica Cricket Board of Control's (JCBC) decision to award points to St. Mary for the unplayed first-round match in the Middlesex Senior Cup competition.
The match, scheduled to be played at St. Ann's registered home ground of Kaiser Sports Club in Discovery Bay on January 21 and 22, was not played due to unavailability of the ground and, in accordance with its rules and regulations, the JCBC awarded the full points for the match to St. Mary.
St. Ann, however, are protesting the award on the basis that they have no control over the ground, that they made every effort to get another ground for the match, that they spoke to the chief executive officer of the board and were told to send in a written explanation and that they did as they were instructed.
According to St. Ann, they were surprised to read in the press some time afterwards that points had been awarded to St. Mary.
In their protest, over the signature of president Ivan Anderson, St. Ann stated their "home" ground was not available because Kaiser was upgrading the field and they had contacted St. Mary in an effort to get the match played in St. Mary with the return match in St. Ann instead of in St. Mary.
The letter also explained the steps that were taken to get an alternate venue for the match.
The letter read in part: "I am appealing to the Cricket Board to find out what else could I have done after I had done everything possible to get the match played. We also need to know who made the complaint because no cost was incurred by St. Mary, and on what basis the decision was taken without informing the St. Ann Cricket Association. Our first knowledge of the decision was when we discovered it published in the press."
The letter also read: "I thought the purpose of the competition was to get teams playing cricket, not to see where one could get points without playing."
St. Ann won first innings points over St. Mary in the return match played at Gray's Inn.
The standings show St. Catherine on top with 23 points from all eight matches, Manchester on 18 from seven, St. Mary on 18 from seven, and St. Ann on 16 from seven.
Without the awarded points, St. Mary would be on 12 from six, St. Ann would be on 16 from six and with two matches to go, St. Ann could still win the title.
With the points for the unplayed match awarded to St. Mary, however, St. Ann can now total only 22 points. With one match each to go this weekend, however, St. Mary and Manchester still have a chance of clipping St. Catherine.
St. Mary will be up against Clarendon at Grays Inn on Saturday and Sunday with St. Ann hosting Manchester at Kaiser.
