Rowley honoured at T20 World Cup match

THE Prime Minister was presented with a West Indies t-shirt and a cricket bat after the first innings of the International Cricket Council T20 World Cup match between West Indies and New Zealand at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba on June 12.

President of Cricket West Indies Dr Kishore Shallow made the presentation to Dr Rowley. Rowley, who is the chairman of the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket, is a huge supporter of the game.

At the end of April, Rowley hosted a two-day symposium on West Indies cricket in an effort to improve cricket in the region. Leaders from around the region and West Indies legends participated in the symposium.

Barbados prime minister Mia Mottley and Guyana president Irfaan Ali (virtually) were among those involved. Deryck Murray, Bryan Davis, Joel Garner, Michael Holding and Sir Wes Hall all made contributions, along with other West Indies legends and stakeholders.

Speaking at a post-Cabinet briefing on June 13, Rowley said he liked the possibility of West Indies winning the tournament.

“The West Indies chances are as good as anybody else and if they play according to the quality of our team on paper, other teams will have to respect us. Last night, they gave us a bit of a scare, but in the end, they played magnificently to win that match last night.”

Rowley also gave his thoughts on the traffic issues on the night of June 12 as the park-and-ride option had some issues.

“I think we are making some progress, but we have not made enough progress yet...We really have to do better with respect to what you are raising there.”

He said fans have to be able to arrive and leave in a “reasonable time.”

More infrastructure can be built around the Tarouba venue to help with parking and traffic problems, Rowley said.

“I am not a traffic management expert, but it may be possible to manage the flows better and I will just advise the patrons to leave a little earlier to give yourselves a little more time to get down there and enjoy the game.”