JCA concerned with low ticket sales ahead of opening ODI

KINGSTON, Ja­maica – Pres­i­dent of the Ja­maica Crick­et As­so­ci­a­tion (JCA) Dr Dono­van Ben­nett has ad­mit­ted that tick­et sales have been slow for the open­ing One Day In­ter­na­tion­al be­tween West In­dies and Sri Lan­ka at Sabi­na Park on Wednes­day.

The Windies will take on the vis­i­tors in a three-match ODI se­ries in Ja­maica, with the two oth­er match­es slat­ed to be played on June 6 and June 8.

In an in­ter­view with The Ob­serv­er, Ben­nett said he hoped sales would pick up in the fi­nal two days.

“I have been plead­ing and try­ing to get CWI [Crick­et West In­dies] to get this thing go­ing a lit­tle bit quick­er, but the sales have gone up a lit­tle bit late.

“I would hope that over the next two days there will be a rush, be­cause I am not sat­is­fied with what I am hear­ing; re the 50-over games,” Ben­nett said.

“The pub­lic needs to un­der­stand that the JCA has a part to play in bring­ing in­ter­na­tion­al crick­et to Ja­maica, but the crick­et­ing pub­lic al­so has a part to play be­cause if we don’t get crowds, then we don’t get match­es — so they need to turn out.

“And es­pe­cial­ly next year, when we have both In­dia and Eng­land com­ing to the Caribbean, they need to strength­en our hands by com­ing out and giv­ing us good sup­port,” he added.

Ben­nett main­tained that Sabi­na Park was in prime con­di­tion ahead of the open­er.

“I think we’re ready to de­liv­er. The on­ly lit­tle hic­cup we had was that the lights were blown out of fo­cus dur­ing the pas­sage of the hur­ri­cane, but we have re­fo­cused those — those were done last week. Oth­er­wise, we’re pret­ty good,” he said.

CMC