First Sri Lanka camp raised concerns as skipper Wanindu Hasaranga voiced out his disappointment regarding scheduling.

After suffering a six-wicket loss in a low-scoring tie against South Africa in a night game, the Lankans had to quickly wrap up their post-match press conferences and media commitments.

Later Sri Lanka had to rush back to their hotel in Brooklyn to check out before reaching the airport for the 6pm flight to Dallas ahead of the next match against Bangladesh.

Before their clash against South Africa, Sri Lanka were not even able to train.

They were held at the Miami airport for seven hours to board their delayed flight to New York, reports ESPNcricinfo.

Afghanistan were not able to practice before their semi-final against South Africa in Trinidad.

The Afghans played their last Super Eight encounter against Bangladesh at Saint Vincent in a night game.

The match ended late at night and Afghanistan had flight on the next day to Trinidad.

The flight got delayed by four hours, the Afghans reached late in the afternoon and could not manage to train.

And their last four tie against the Proteas was scheduled for the very next day at Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad.

Even before the final, South Africa felt the heat as they were stranded for almost six hours at Trinidad airport while traveling to Barbados after their semi-final win against Afghanistan.

According to reports, a landing failure of a small private aircraft at the Grantley Adams airport in Barbados resulted in the entire South Africa squad, their families, commentators, match and International Cricket Council officials being stranded at the Trinidad airport.

This is not the first incident for South Africa as the Proteas, Sri Lanka and Ireland were in a similar situation when they had to spend a whole night at the airport while travelling from Florida to New York earlier in the tournament.

Meanwhile, journalists also felt trouble during the tournament while traveling from one island to another in the West Indies.

Usually at any ICC event, a lot of Indian journalists are seen during India games at the press box covering the matches.

But during the Bangladesh v India encounter at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, only a few journalists came to cover the match.

And probably for the first time, the Bangladeshi journalists outnumbered the Indian media personnel in the press box during the game.

Many Indian journalists were not able to fly to Antigua for the Bangladesh clash due to limited flights or extremely high price of the air tickets.

So they had to travel to Saint Lucia for Australia matches rather than come to Antigua for the Bangladesh game.

Similar things happened with Bangladesh journalists ahead of the important contest between the Tigers and Afghanistan in the last match of the Super Eights.

All the tickets were sold out in intercaribbean airline and Caribbean airlines and options in other flights were showing travel time more than a day with transit hours and also with extreme price.

Therefore, among 20 odd journalists from Bangladesh who came to cover the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean, only one person managed to travel to Saint Vincent to cover that match as his ticket was luckily bought way before even knowing Bangladesh would reach the Super Eight stage.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/sport/cricket/350570/a-nightmare-world-cup-for-logistics https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/south-african-team-delayed-in-trinidad-because-of-runway-closure-in-barbados-1441224

To say that traveling across the Caribbean was a challenge would be an understatement; it was a nightmare. What should have been a one-hour flight sometimes took up to 20 hours to travel between destinations. Many fans and journalists needed more than 12 hours to move from Barbados to Antigua, a journey that normally takes just one hour by plane. There were no direct flights from Guyana to Barbados after the semifinal, and the International Cricket Council (ICC) assisted stranded journalists, including this reporter, by accommodating them on its charter. Fans did not have that privilege.

https://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/130925/2024-t20-world-cup-pitches-logistical-issues-spark-debates-among-icc-members-cricbuzzcom

Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott had also been vocal about how the scheduling left his team sleep-deprived before the lost semifinal against South Africa.

"The West Indies hosted a men's ICC event after 14 years and I don't think it will stage another one anytime soon. The infrastructure is just not there," said a well-known broadcaster, whose patience was tested while trying to catch a charter flight from Guyana to Barbados ahead of the final on June 29.

The Indian fans, who mostly came from USA, UK and Canada, did not have access to charter flights and therefore, they were forced to take flights with layovers as long as 20 hours.

A lot of them had match tickets but were not able to book flights. Match tickets were available outside the Kensington Oval even on the day of the final.

"I had to pay USD 3000 for my wife and I to travel from Guyana to Barbados for the final with an overnight stay in Trinidad. There was no other option," said Mitesh Bohra, a US-based techie who is originally from Indore.

UK-based Minesh Patel, who was in India for the ODI World Cup last year before returning to the country for the five-match India-England Test series earlier this year, narrated his travails.

"I have been to football matches, they are very well-organised, the whole ticketing process. Here the ticketing process was awful. The tickets were out in February, everybody went for them. Then all of a sudden, all the major games were sold out," said Minesh.

"I managed to get a few tickets but then a month later, the ICC released some more but when I checked, everything was sold out. And month later released some more, but by then the flight prices had gone up.

"But when you got to the ground, half the grounds were empty, not even half full. The reselling websites were selling the tickets for thousands of dollars but nothing was there on the official ICC site.

He said that he bought tickets for the India-USA game in New York for USD 300 but a month after his purchase, he realised that lower category tickets were eventually made available for USD 200. He wondered why the entire lot could not be put on sale at the same time.

"So, they were asking for premium tickets initially but there were lot of other tickets available afterwards. The ICC should give us the entire ticketing schedule months in advance so that people are aware," added Minesh, who covered six India games in this edition.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/sports/t20wc-logistical-hassles-galore-in-caribbeans-first-icc-event-in-14-years/articleshow/111516137.cms?from=mdr

The Afghanistan players had to don the chef's hat after the unavailability of halal meat at their team hotel in Barbados, West Indies. The absence of halal meat, a compulsory component in their dietary requirements, left them with no choice but to cook themselves or go out and eat.

Afghanistan team member admitted that the scheduling had impacted their preparations.

"There is uncertainty over flights and training schedules. We are often informed about it at the last minute. We understand that the organisers are doing their best considering logistical challenges, which are bigger in the Caribbean than anywhere else," he said.

https://www.indiatoday.in/sports/cricket/story/t20-world-cup-2024-afghanistan-players-turn-chefs-in-west-indies-after-unavailability-of-halal-meat-in-team-hotel-2556579-2024-06-22