Despite some early glitches, Barbadian cricket fans turned up in their numbers on Thursday to secure tickets for the highly anticipated ICC’s Men’s T20 World Cup in June.
People began queuing at Kensington Oval’s box offices shortly after 6 a.m., hours ahead of the box office’s 10:30 a.m. opening. But complaints grew with the delayed purchasing process when the point-of-sale system failed, frustrating the holders of credit and debit cards.
Philip Spooner, the tournament’s global media operations Manager acknowledged the early problems but said efforts were made to rectify the issues.
“We apologise to the members of the public . . . for the challenges that they faced, but we are working, as we speak, to get this sorted. We will have this sorted before the end of the day and it will be a seamless operation before the end of the day,” he said.
Spooner stressed that the overall response during the morning had been a positive one for organisers.
“We are very happy to see people coming out because it shows the level of interest, and this is a tremendous first day of operations. People want to be part of this event and they are participating meaningfully. We are very happy about that. We will put everything in place that needs to be put in place for our customers, our fans, who are the biggest supporters of the games,” he said.
“So far, the atmosphere has been amazing; there has been a lot of attention to the tournament globally…. It’s literally out of this world. This morning we had the launch of the amazing anthem and the music video with Sean Paul and Kes, two of the best and most visible global artists in the region. We are very happy with that aspect of how things are going. The preparations of the fields and pitches have also been good…. Obviously, there is still work to be done and we are a month away. We are where we want to be.”
Irene Ramkelawan was one of the first in line to buy tickets. A West Indies cricket fan from her youth, she told Barbados TODAY she did not want to miss the opportunity to see the finals played here.
“I’m buying for myself and my husband, and my son and his wife,” she said. “I’m a fan of Rohan Kanhai, Lance Gibbs, Basil Butcher, Clive Lloyd, [and] Carl Hooper, my favourite guy. I love seeing West Indies cricket, I love some from India too, and Trinidad. I am backing [West Indies]100 per cent.”
The delays during the morning did not dissuade Sulemam Makda from his ticket quest. “[It’s] alright because normally these things happen on the first day, but it was not so bad. I’m always looking forward to the big tournaments, I’ve been living in Barbados for the past 20 years. I was here for the 2007 and 2010 [tournaments], so I am looking forward to seeing the finals for sure. I plan to come with the family, and then I have a ticket for Super Eight, and then the game which is England vs Australia.”
Joel Manning said that after attending the finals in 2007 and also 2010, he knew that he would also attend the 2024 tournament, and hopes the West Indies can do well.
“In terms of finals, for sure I am looking forward to seeing the West Indies there. The cricket that they have been playing, you would hope that it would continue, and for sure it would be a big thing to see them in the finals. It would be interesting to see a West Indies vs England finals; the fact that Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan as well, it would take you back to that 2016 final that West Indies won in India with some Barbadians playing for England and some Barbadians hopefully playing for the West Indies.”
