Barbados, TT clash postponed

Derek Nicholas, the West Indies Cricket Board’s operations officer, told CMC Sports Thursday the heavy rains experienced throughout the island on Wednesday were expected to continue and a decision had been taken to abandon the fixture rather than lose large amounts of playing time over the next four days. In addition, Nicholas said the WICB had been told by officials at the Carlton club that the rain, that caused flooding in some parts of the island, had also hampered preparations for the December 9-12 match.

"We were convinced there was not going to be enough cricket played over the four days because of the threat of more rain," Nicholas explained. "The long range weather forecast was for more rain so the decision was taken to send the teams home instead of have them sitting around in hotel rooms watching the rain fall."

A trough system in the area resulted in thunderstorms and gusty winds across the island for most of the day on Wednesday and a flood watch was enforced until 8 am yesterday.

He added: "The folks at Carlton said it had hampered their preparation. It would not have allowed them to bring their preparation to completion." Trinidad and Tobago, already in the island for the game, will return home and will now meet Barbados from February 3-6.

The postponement comes after the match between Guyana and the Windward Islands, also scheduled for this weekend, was rescheduled because of bad weather. It now means no Carib Beer Series matches will be played until the competition resumes on January 6 after the Christmas holidays.