A KEY semi-final match in the Guardian Group Herman Griffith Primary Schools Cricket Competition had to be rescheduled for next Monday after Eden Lodge Primary School controversially refused to play because of an under-prepared and sub-standard pitch with soft spots at Dover yesterday.
After they lost the toss and were sent in to bat by defending champions Bayleys, the Eden Lodge batsmen, did not follow their opponents onto the field when play was called by the umpires around 11 a.m. amid boisterous protests from their teachers, coaches, parents and spectators that the pitch wasn’t suitable for play.
Following the toss, the scheduled 10 a.m. start was delayed for an hour while the pitch, which had loose dry grass on the surface covering some soft patches, was rolled for a few minutes.
After umpires Donovan Lovell and Winston Seale later took their places in the middle, along with the Bayleys’ players, Eden Lodge’s physical education teacher George Sandiford defended his decision not to allow his boys to go out to bat.
Please read the full story in today’s Midweek Nation, or in the eNATION edition.
