Brian Lara Cricket Academy ready to welcome the world

The Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba is ready to host the world.

The south venue plays host to five International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup matches: four Group C ties (June 12, 13, 14 and 17) and one semi-final (June 26).

The academy is gearing up to welcome players, staff and spectators from New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, Afghanistan and co-hosts West Indies.

During a short tour of the venue on Monday, Udecott facilities coordinator Shivanand Ramoutar confirmed their readiness ahead of the ICC’s showpiece event.

“We are completely ready for this World Cup,” he said. “A lot of preparation work has been done here to meet the ICC requirements. We are fully prepared and already got our clearance at ICC. The pitches are ready.

The biggest upgrade the facility received ahead of the World Cup was the construction of two additional media boxes to house local, regional and international media.

The venue is almost spotless, the outfield is a lush green, the pitch looks good and the bright pink and purple ICC T20 World Cup banners are ready to welcome the globe’s cricket-hungry fans.

Around the region, Brian Lara Cricket Academy is famed for its brisk run-off of water. And with the rainy season now upon us, Ramoutar said while there are many visible upgrades above ground, much work was also done to ensure the venue’s drainage system remains a cut above the rest.

“Part of the refurbishment was improved drainage. Around the facility right now, we redid the gravel ring and piping, so we are ready. I’d even say we could probably restart cricket (after rain) in about 20 to 30 minutes. We are ready for this,” he added. Additionally, two new screens have been installed, one for the scoreboard and another for replays. The media centre also provides multi-media features and improved connectivity for local and travelling journalists.

Ramoutar said the upgrades will continue to serve the nation post-World Cup, as they chart towards making the academy fully functional, with the aim of nurturing and developing the next generation of TT, and West Indies cricketers.

“We have a lot plans for the new extensions. We already have some of the activities happening with some of the local academies, Samuel Badree’s academy uses here at times.

“It is the intent that we will be repurposing those extensions to really accommodate the theoretical aspect of things as well. There are some on the corporate side that we will be exploring. They are heavy plans to ensure this facility is fully utilised.”

After the T20 World Cup, the academy will host multiple matches from this year’s Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League and also welcomes Bangladesh later down.