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The new-look Rothmans Senior Cup cricket competition which will see the winning teams in Cornwall, Middlesex and Surrey meeting in a play-off for the national title got off to a disappointing start last weekend with Hanover failing to turn up for their match against Trelawny at Hampden.

According to C.A. Simpson, a representative of Hanover, Rusea's and Elgin Town, the two grounds which they use for home matches, are not available, because of that they have no place to either train or play matches, they considered playing all their matches away but that would be too expensive and a letter was written to the Jamaica Cricket Board of Control explaining everything.

According to George Prescod, chief executive officer of the JCBC, the letter was received on Friday - the day before the game, the letter did not state Hanover were withdrawing from the competition, only that they did not have a ground to host matches and during a telephone conversation they were advised to honour their first-round fixture, an away match, following which the problem would be discussed.

Hanover did not turn up and, according to Simpson and Prescod, a meeting will be held to either confirm Hanover's withdrawal or to see how they can be accommodated without somewhere to host their home matches.

A date, however, has not been set for the meeting - even though, according to the fixtures, Hanover are down to host St. Elizabeth at Rusea's this weekend.

The truth is that a meeting with Hanover, especially at this time, appears a waste of time, for even if the board can arrange for them to play all their matches away, if development is what the competition is about, if practice is important to performance, the players should also have somewhere to practice.

In the past there have been complaints of poor facilities at some grounds and although the board has allowed teams to get away with bad pitches, outfields so poor that players run the risk of being injured chasing a ball, no changing rooms and football goalposts on the field, it certainly should not allow a team without somewhere to practice and to play matches to participate in a competition like the Senior Cup.

Cricket needs to encourage those who play the game and those who want to play the game. In order to ensure development of young players and to protect the game, however, there should be a basic requirement for teams which want to participate in the board's competitions especially in the big ones.

What the board should do, what it should have done, is sit with Hanover as well as other teams with similar problems and see how it can help them to provide the facilities necessary not only to continue playing the game but also to participate in its competitions.