Cricket has been left to stagger after being closed out of the Lugogo Cricket Oval.
The National Council of Sports (NCS) has given stringent guidelines that include a busy schedule which have deemed Lugogo inaccessible from the Sport.
“This is to inform you that your request to use the Cricket Oval has been reviewed and unavailable dates during which NCS has booked events are as indicated below for the months of July to December 2022 respectively,” reads a letter from NCS to Uganda Cricket Association (UCA).
Starting next month, the Cricket Oval will be busy for 66 days until the end of the year.
A couple of Music Concerts including Nigerian Singer Tiwa Savage will be performing at the oval.
NCS has told the Association that they should use the oval for “strictly” National team events for those available days.
This has left totally sabotaged the league schedule, Elite league for both men and women, and the Schools Cricket Weeks which were scheduled to start next month.
And the said available days are not as available as NCS may claim.
“If there is a show, you can’t use the ground even days prior or those few days after the event,” said one Cricket player who preferred anonymity.
“They start setting up the stage a day or two days before, so you are training when the guys are Events guys are carrying their metals across the oval. Ideally it’s not possible.
“There are always those residues that remain behind on the oval after a music event and that may take you a whole day to clean it after a concert. Plus, the oval cannot be deemed playable for those few days after a Music concert.”
The players over time have had to endure the poor Lugogo Cricket Oval when left in a worrying state from damages caused music concerts and Prayer fellowships.
If nothing can be done to protect these ovals, it remains a sad development for a country that is on the verge of becoming an ODI nation.
