Tony Becca

A NUMBER of the cricket clubs around Jamaica, especially those in the Corporate Area, have been complaining about a lack of money and wondering just where to go and who to ask for some.

Well, I have a suggestion: they should go to the Trelawny Cricket Association and ask them from where do they get their money and from whom.

Why should they do that? They should do so for the simple reason that that association must have a lot of money to do what it has been doing since the start of the Jamaica Cricket Association's (JCA) Super Cup cricket competition.

After six rounds of action, Trelawny, scheduled to host three matches and to play three away from home, have played all six away from home and they have done so because they have nowhere to play.

In other words, with Bounty Hall being renovated, Trelawny, the home of the new multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art cricket stadium built to host warm-up matches during the recently-concluded Cricket World Cup (CWC) tournament and then used to host the opening ceremony, have no home and no place to play their matches.

Out of bounds

The stadium, only part of which was used for the warm-up matches during CWC - the same part, of which was used for the opening ceremony - has not been used since CWC and is out of bounds to the parish team participating in the island's number one cricket competition.

The result is that Trelawny's first home match, against Melbourne, was played at Melbourne Oval in Kingston. Their second home match, against the Jamaica Defence Force, was played at Up Park Camp in Kingston.

Their third home match, against St. Elizabeth, was played at Melbourne Oval in Kingston and, for two reasons, that is interesting. The first reason is that according to the JCA's rules, that should not have happened.

The rules state that "all clubs and parishes must submit one named ground and a ground" to the JCA, and that "if it is not possible to play at either ground, the match MUST be played on the opponents' home ground."

Melbourne were not Trelawny's opponents in home match number three.

Found the funds

The second reason is even more interesting, and particularly so when it comes to the third match.

What makes it so interesting is that Trelawny found the money to travel to Kingston from so far away for three matches which should have been played at home, even though the team stayed at Sabina Park for next to nothing, that they found the money to pay for accommodation and that they found the money to pay for the use of the three grounds - Melbourne on two occasions and the JDF on one.

Although it is said by representatives of both teams that, probably because of the cost of accommodation at Sabina Park, it cost them less toplay the match at Melbourne than it would have had they played it in either Trelawny or St. Elizabeth, the Trelawny/St. Elizabeth match at Melbourne Oval, however, took the cake, and it did so not only because, according to the rules, it should not have been played there, but also because it all seems so silly.

From one end of the island

It took the cake for the simple reason that apart from the fact that Trelawny had to pay Melbourne for the use of the ground, two teams from neighbouring parishes not only had to find the money to travel so far, not only, at whatever cost, had to find the money for accommodation, but that, and especially so in a time when everyone is complaining about the dire financial straits of the clubs, that they also travelled, one from the north coast and one from the south coast, so many miles to Kingston to play a match.

It reminded me of the years between 1990 and 1996 when Melbourne and seven other teams, all but one from the Corporate Area, were forced to journey to Discovery Bay to contest the final of the all-island knockout competition before a handful of spectators for a prize money that, without even taking into consideration the cost of accommodation and especially so on the north coast, could not even pay for the transportation of one team much more for both.

Tomorrow, Trelawny will be back in Kingston at Nelson Oval. This time, however, they are the guests of Lucas.

This time they, from the home of the new multi-purpose stadium, do not have to pay for the ground and with that burden off their minds, hopefully, they will play some good cricket and earn some much-needed points.