ICC commits another blunder before T20 World Cup final; forces South Africa team to sleep in the Airport with families
Updated - 28 Jun 2024, 12:47 PM
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In a shocking incident, South African players, their families, and the match officials were left stranded at the Trinidad airport after Proteas' historic semi-final win over Afghanistan.
According to a report from ESPNCricinfo, a landing failure of a small private aircraft in Barbados led to the complete shutdown of Grantley Adams Airport by the Civil Aviation Authority and the Barbados Police Service.
Flights to Barbados were suspended and rearranged
It is believed that the pilot of the aircraft received the information of the runway closure in Bridgetown when the South African team was just about to board the aircraft to Barbados.
“It appeared that the landing gear of the private aircraft did not deploy, but it is currently on the runway at GAIA [Grantley Adams International Airport] safely,” Sharleen Brown, Corporate Communication Specialist with GAIA, said in a statement, confirming that all three individuals on board – two passengers and a pilot – were safe.
The passengers who were traveling from Trinidad to Barbados were notified about the rescheduling, which amounted to almost six hours of wait for the passengers.
Logistical nightmares continue in T20 World Cup 2024
This is not the first case of logistical challenges faced in the T20 World Cup 2024. Earlier, the Sri Lankan team had to spend a whole night in the airport when they were traveling from Florida to New York during the group stage of the competition. Sri Lankan player Maheesh Theekshana also raised the issue of constant traveling and logistical challenges faced by his team.
Recently, Afghanistan had their flight delayed before arriving in Trinidad for their semi-final match against South Africa. Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott even criticized the ICC for not having enough time between the Super 8 and the semi-finals.
The tournament has been co-hosted by the West Indies and the USA. With so many countries (different Caribbean islands and the USA) involved in hosting the tournament, it was always going to be a tough task for the ICC to manage logistical issues.
South Africa and India make it to the final
Meanwhile, South Africa made it to their first-ever men's World Cup final when they defeated an emotionally-drained Afghanistan by 9 wickets at Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba, Trinidad. The pitch came under huge scrutiny after there was invariable bounce and excessive seam movement throughout the match.
Afghanistan were dismissed for just 56 runs, with left-arm seamer Marco Jansen and left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi claiming 3 wickets each. In reply, South Africa chased down the target in the ninth over with the loss of Quinton de Kock.
In the other semi-final, India defeated England by 68 runs to make it to the final. It was a complete performance from the Men in Blue, who scored 171-7 on a tricky pitch after being put into bat.
Following that, the Indian spinners used the conditions to great effect as they bundled out England for just 103 runs. Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav picked up 3 wickets each for India.
