Friday’s playoff matches at the Global T20 tournament took several unusual turns.
Two matches were scheduled at the CAA Centre – Cricket Ground in Brampton, ON, where the entire tournament has been taking place:
- 11AM Match (Qualifier 1): the top two finishers in the tournament’s first stage (Montreal Tigers and Brampton Wolves respectively) were playing in the morning in the Qualifier 1. The winner would advance straight to the final, the loser would play in Saturday’s Qualifier 2 match.
- 4PM Match (Eliminator): the third and fourth place finishers (Bangla Tigers Mississauga and the Toronto Nationals respectively) were playing in the afternoon in the Eliminator. The winner would advance to Saturday’s Qualifier 2 match, and the loser would be eliminated from the tournament.
The first match was called off due to rain, leading to the expected result: the Montreal Tigers, having ranked at the top, advanced to Sunday’s final, and the Wolves moved on to Saturday’s Qualifier 2.
Repeated afternoon delays
The afternoon match was where things got strange.
For starters, the afternoon weather conditions were extremely favorable, and the field conditions appeared acceptable to observers.
Both teams were on the field warming up throughout the afternoon.
However, the match was repeatedly delayed due to match officials’ concerns about specific areas of the outfield close to a part of the boundary. While there were no visible puddles, apparently the field was too wet for the officials’ liking.
Multiple inspections took place, resulting in repeated delays, and the ground crew was seen diligently addressing these concerns through rolling, drying and spreading sawdust.
In the end, the boundary was moved in to exclude the areas of concern from the field of play.
Super over and toss no-show
A little before 7PM, the decision was announced that the match would be decided by a single super over.
There was not enough time before dark for a 5-over match to be played, and the CAA ground does not have night lighting.
The announcement continued that the toss would take place at 7:10, and the match would start at 7:30.
At toss-time, the Toronto Nationals’ Captain Colin Munro walked out to the middle of the field.
The Bangla Tigers’ Captain, and former Bangladeshi member of Parliament, Shakib Al Hasan was observed walking part way out of the pavilion towards the pitch, handing a paper to someone, and then returning back to the Pavillion. He never made it out to the toss, and the reasons for why were unclear.
It later emerged that because of Shakib’s toss no-show, the Bangla Tigers were deemed to have forfeited the match and the Toronto Nationals hence advanced to Saturday’s Qualifier 2.
Controversy continues on Saturday
Unsubstantiated rumors emerged overnight that the match would be replayed Saturday morning in shortened form.
On Saturday, the Toronto Nationals arrived at the CAA ground first and began to warm up.
Soon after however, the Bangla Tigers’ bus arrived with the full team and staff in match gear, unloaded, and made their way into the ground.
This was apparently an attempt to play in the Qualifier 2 despite being forfeited.
After a while, the Tigers then left the ground, and made their way back to their bus and departed – just as the Brampton Wolves’ bus was arriving.
Game on
In the end, Saturday’s Eliminator 2 started soon after its scheduled time, shortly before 12:30PM, as the Nationals won the toss and elected to field first.
GT20 CEO addresses controversy
Following the start of the match on Saturday, GT20 CEO Joy Bhattacharjya gave an official statement to cricexec regarding the controversy. His statement is in this video:
