Quins in limbo as cricket season put on hold
Highlighting on last year’s season which was abruptly disrupted by Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown, Kettle shared that the envisaged T20 tournament and awards event scheduled for April were cancelled.
WITH amateur cricket put on hold until Monday, 1 February, by Cricket South Africa, Harlequins Cricket Club remains in limbo due to restrictive measures enforced by its two controlling bodies.
According to the club’s manager, Ernest Kettle, league matches were initially scheduled to commence on Sunday, 10 January, however, the controlling bodies announced that the earliest matches could commence is in February. Highlighting on last year’s season which was abruptly disrupted by Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown, Kettle shared that the envisaged T20 tournament and awards event scheduled for April were cancelled.
“Cricket matches were not possible in the last quarter of 2020, however some practice games were held in November. A partially successful golf event was also held towards the end of the year,” he said, adding that the cricket club has an effective Whatsapp management group where updates and information is cascaded down to its members while keeping them in high spirits.
The club’s main concern is the diabolical condition of all ten municipal cricket outfields and wickets in the Durban south zone. “Service by the municipality is almost non-existent as they are not able to render any maintenance sufficient enough to enable cricket matches to take place.
“I challenge anyone who does not believe the extent of neglect and derelict, to take a trip to the cricket fields at either Himalayas Road, Badulla Drive, Dhubri Road, Highbury Road and Harlequins to inspect the condition of these south zone fields. The cricket fields at Lt King Park, Fynnland Sports Club and Bayview Sports Club are not quite as bad as they have inherent slow growing grass species. But they too are not currently functional and will not be for some while.
“During a meeting held in October with the municipality and their representatives informed us that they would not be able to maintain fields to a standard that we required to enable us to use these them. Consequently, the municipal maintenance team which operates in the south zone is a failed entity,” said a disappointed Kettle.
