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Niraj Odedra gets hands dirty to prepare North Field

Taking matters into his own hands: Bermuda cricket coach Niraj Odedra rolling the wicket at North Field (Photograph by Mehluli Sibanda)
Bermuda coach Niraj Odedra on the North Field centre wicket with Darren Burchall, a former Southampton Rangers player (Photograph by Mehluli Sibanda)

Bermuda cricket coach Niraj Odedra is playing his part in ensuring that National Sports Centre’s North Field is ready for use by his players.

Since his return to the island in April, Odedra has been spending time at North Field to help prepare the wicket for use by his team as they get ready for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Americas final qualifier on home soil at the end of September.

For the better part of those preparations, the players focused on fitness and fielding but they were finally able to conduct a net session last week.

While he believes that they are going at a slow pace, Odedra thinks the work on the nets is crucial for his squad.

“I am looking at a couple of weeks and it should be fine,” Odedra said.

“We need the nets for practice. When we used the nets, it was good and I am happy with the development. It will be slow but we are going in the right direction.

“You have to understand there is not enough labour when it comes to structural infrastructure, so you have to keep calling people up. Anything that comes into the island, you import it from either America or UK, that's why it takes time.”

Odedra is frustrated by the rain that has been pounding the island for weeks making it hard to attend to the centre wicket.

“Its just raining almost every day in the last three weeks,” Odedra said.

“You don't get enough time to to prepare the wicket, it needs to dry underneath so you can roll it properly. The grass needs to grow as well. Preparation takes a lot of time in the middle and that's not happening because of rain.”

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Published June 16, 2023 at 7:16 am (Updated June 16, 2023 at 7:16 am)

Niraj Odedra gets hands dirty to prepare North Field

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