By RICHARDSON DHALAI Monday, October 19 2009

A trial test cricket match in preparation for next month’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was held yesterday at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba.

The match was organised to test the wicket and batting strip at the still incomplete stadium being built by Udecott who were unaware of the match sponsored by the Ministry of Sports.

Udecott officials said they found out last week Friday only after the match was organised. The two teams were Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board Academy and a Trinidad and Tobago “A” team.

Newsday was told that the match was organised by the Ministry of Sport and the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB).

Executive TTCB member William Wallace confirmed that the match was a joint effort between the TTCB and the Ministry of Sport and was put together to “test the strip and wicket” at the Tarouba Academy.

“This match is for testing the strip and the wicket, because there are basically plans for a match for the November CHOGM. So this is a test of the strip,” Wallace said.

Udecott is building the stadium at a cost of $700 million but cost overruns have pitched the figure to close to a billion dollars. The stalled Professor John Uff Commission of Inquiry visited the stadium during sitting and made stinging comments of the quality of materials used on the project.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning had in June expressed confidence that the controversial stadium would be opened in time for next month’s CHOGM to be hosted by this country in Port-of-Spain. If all goes well, heads of governments would witness a cricket match at the stadium which is still under construction. When Newsday attempted to enter the stadium to photograph the match in progress, a security officer on duty at the entrance, blocked the gate.

It was noticeable from the gates that construction was in progress, though bulldozers, steam rollers and other heavy equipment were parked in single file outside the stadium. Fence posts ringed a large front section of the stadium.

Several sections of the stadium roofing are yet to be built as well as the roofing over the scoreboard.

An official told Newsday yesterday that Udecott was indeed taken aback by the trial match yesterday.

“We just did not know about it,” the official said noting that work on the stadium went on as normal.