Pay and play as HCA is caught off guard
The match was around 20 overs when the grounds men walk in, remove the stumps and say the match cannot be continued as the association did not pay its rental dues
Hyderabad: It can happen in Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) only. This time it was weird and different. A few of the HCA conducted two-day and three-day league matches in the city outskirts were stopped for two hours on Tuesday because the association did not pay the rentals for use of the grounds.
The match was around 20 overs when the grounds men walk in, remove the stumps and say the match cannot be continued as the association did not pay its rental dues to the party concerned. The players were aghast and so were the umpires. The teams were caught off guard by this sudden turn of developments.
“How can this happen in a midst of a match with a grounds man walking in and removing the stumps? We were stunned. The umpires were also clueless,’’ said a player.
It is a different matter that the matches were resumed after two hours and for practical purpose there was only one hour loss of play because of the break for lunch session. But this incident is another black mark to the association, which is already mired in controversies.
HCA secretary R Vijayanand admitted the matches were stopped for one hour and it resumed once they paid the rental dues after taking legal opinion as the matter is subjudice. “The matches were stopped for one hour and we paid the rentals of the grounds once we got the green signal from our legal advisors,’’ he said.
However, a club secretary said if this non-payment of rentals is a subjudice matter, how can the Apex Council give an advance of Rs One crore for the purchase of Gym equipment he questioned.
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