Georgetown, May 9: Guyana's notorious weather made sure not a ball was bowled on the fourth day of the opening cricket Test match between West Indies and Pakistan at Bourda Oval.West Indies were to resume on Monday on 222 for seven, replying to Pakistan's first innings total of 288, but torrential morning rains soaked the Guyana capital and flooded the ground which has the reputation of being West Indies's and, indeed, one of international cricket's wettest venues.Several days of cricket have been lost at this ground in previous years and, a decade ago, a Test between West Indies and England was cancelled, and two one-dayers played instead.Such has been the problem with the weather in this South American nation that the Guyana Cricket Board, in the last two years, have requested that most, if not all, of the National side's matches in the Busta Cup West Indies first-class championship be played away from home.Neither side travelled to the ground, preferring to send management officials to scope out the bleak sight of much of the ground being underwater and the canals around the outside perimetre overflowing with the deluge.More unstable weather was in the forecast for the remainder of Monday and for Monday's final day of the match, which now seems headed for a draw, making the two remaining Tests in the series in Bridgetown and St John's more critical for the sides to achieve a result. West Indies Cricket Board president Pat Rousseau and his team have been accused in recent years of paying too much attention to the financial side of the game and not enough to the cricket.It's one of the charges that have been levelled at him in the run-up to this weekend's annual general meeting of the WICB in Gorgetown, where one of the main agenda items is the election of a new president and vice-president for the next two years.During the signing of the television coverage agreement with BskyB in London last week, Rousseau again alluded to his well-worn philosophy that unless there is enough capital there can be very little cricket development in the West Indies.It's one of the reasons why he made the ambitious bid to the International Cricket Council to host the 2007 World Cup. He believes the returns West Indies Cricket will get back from the investment will be ``pressed down, shaken together and running over''.With such a conviction, it means that the consistent washouts of international matches in Guyana over the last decade has proved to be costly to the WICB and to cricket development in the region.Though no one has control over the weather and even the brightest forecasts can sometimes be flawed, it makes Bourda Oval and Guyana a less attractive investment for the regional cricket authorities. Unlike previous years, when they could have pocketed money advanced for the purchase of tickets, the new refund policy makes it harder for the WICB to stomach these kinds of interruptions.
