On Sunday in Guyana, the West Indies and Papua New Guinea cricket match marked the beginning of the Caribbean leg of the T20 World Cup but what was noticed in this first encounter were empty stands and lack of buzz.
Most of the seats at Providence Stadium remained vacant with only a few occupied stands here and there.
The USA vs Canada game on Saturday signaled the start of ICC’s 9th edition of its cricketing extravaganza that is being jointly hosted by USA and West Indies.
The first T20 World Cup game in the Caribbean witnessed low public attendance; nevertheless, it drew attention from numerous internet platform users who expressed their disappointment about this state of affairs.
Previously, skipper Rovman Powell won the toss and chose to field first against PNG during their opening Group C tie.
In spite of a green-tinged pitch two-time former champions opted for three spinners – Roston Chase, Akeil Hosein and Gudakesh Motie – among their last eleven as they venture into a campaign where they want to be first host country to win a T20 World Cup trophy.
Once again, PNG who shocked Zimbabwe with an undefeated run on way to qualifying for their second T20 World Cup appearance are dependent on captain Assad Vala together with fellow top-order batters Tony Ura and Lega Siaka for posting such scores that could stretch any opponent’s bowling line-up.
Their only previous meeting in official international games had been during Zimbabwe’s 2018 qualifying tournament for the 2019 50-over-side World Cup whose then captain Jason Holder scored unbeaten 99 leading West Indies to a six-wicket victory at Harare.
West Indies – Rovman Powell (captain), Brandon King, Johnson Charles, Nicholas Pooran, Roston Chase, Sherfane Rutherford, Andre Russell, Romario Shepherd, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie
Papua New Guinea – Assad Vala (captain), Tony Ura, Lega Siaka, Sese Bau, Hiri Hiri, Charles Amini, Kiplin Doriga, Alei Nao, Chad Soper, Kabua Morea, John Kariko
