Cricket fans maintain support for Amazon Warriors’ challenge of CPL final

GEORGETOWN, GUYANA: Cricket fans worldwide are continuing to support the Guyana Amazon Warriors’ challenge of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) final which was played against the Barbados Tridents in St. Kitts and Nevis on August 16.

Immediately after the decision was announced, the Amazon Warriors had mounted a challenge to the outcome of the game, which was controversially awarded to the Tridents under the Duckworth-Lewis system.

This renewed wave of support by fans seems to have come in the wake of a decision by CPL’s Cricket Tournament Committee (CTC), despite substantial evidence to the contrary, that there is no “good reason” to reverse the result or declare the final a nullity.

However, both the CTC and the CPL said they do not object to the matter being referred to the International Cricket Council (ICC), the game’s world governing body, for a ruling that is “definitive, transparent and expeditious”–words that appear to suggest the decision was arrived at with a great degree of doubt.

A petition website has been launched in support of the Amazon Warriors’ challenge, currently with more than 2000 supporters and growing, and social media continues to be replete with rage at the way in which the game ended, while at the same time calling on the CPL management to overturn the decision.

A CPL statement issued Sunday said the CTC effectively ruled that the result of the rain-affected final stands, although there has been mounting pressure from a number of cricket fans worldwide, well respected analysts and commentators of the game, and a number of sport organisations.

The statement said after receiving and considering the formal complaint made by the Amazon Warriors, it referred the Match Report to the CTC for a decision. The CTC claimed that the Match Referee properly applied the rules regarding the time allotted for the match, and alluded to paragraph 6.2 of Section 3A of the CPL Tournament Rules, which deals with match results.

This “expressly precludes a team from objecting to the result of a match on the ground of any decision made by any Umpire or the Match Referee”, the statement said.

The Match Referee’s report indicated an enquiry by CPL Chief Executive Officer Damien O’Donohoe and Member of the CTC Charles Wilkin, QC, if the full match could be played without resort to the Duckworth-Lewis rules.

“To this, the consent of both captains was required and that was not forthcoming. Hence, they were informed that, according to the Playing Conditions, they did not have the authority to make such a ruling,” the statement added.

Chairman of the CTC is PJ Patterson, former Prime Minister of Jamaica. Other Committee members include Zorol Barthley, Walter H Scott and Conde Riley.