Antigua and Barbuda: Only fully vaccinated cricket fans permitted to attend U-19 Men’s World Cup 2022 matches

Fully vaccinated cricket fans would be permitted to come and watch the upcoming ICC Under-19 Men's World Cup 2022 in the venues, Antiguan government announced. 

Fully vaccinated cricket fans would be permitted to come and watch the upcoming ICC Under-19 Men’s World Cup 2022 in the venues, Antiguan government announced. 

The announcement was made by the – sports Minister – Daryll Matthew, adding that this guideline might change in the future and depends on the growth and decline of the COVID-19 cases in the country. 

The U19 world cup will take place from next year, January 14 to February 5, and the tournament will be hosted in the four Caribbean countries – St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago & Guyana, with ten venues hosting regionally.

The quarter-finals, semi-finals and title-decider will be hosted by Antigua and Barbuda, matches will be at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium – (SVRS) and Coolidge Cricket Ground, starting from January 26, 2022. 

The sports minister cited, “As it is now, the intention is to permit fans who are fully vaccinated access to the venues for the matches“. 

“However, we are facing – uncertain times with the arrival of a new variant, so that decision would be taken as we get closer to the time where matches would be hosted here in Antigua & Barbuda, and we would continue to work with the Ministry of Health to advise us and guide us accordingly“. 

There will be 48 matches to be held in the cricket tournament in a time period of twenty-two days.  

Throughout the year, we have demonstrated our ability to host events and do it well. In the CG Insurance Super 50 tournament, we successfully hosted the entire event. Sri Lanka (men’s) tour, we delivered. We successfully hosted a Pakistan – (women’s) tour as well as the South Africa women’s tour; we delivered”, the minister further added.  

Apart from this, Johnny Grave, CEO of Cricket West Indies – (CWI), cited that holding such a big tournament in the challenging times of the COVID-19 outbreak.Â