Cricket World Cup LOC satisfied with KuGompo City progress

Buffalo Park is one of the 12 host venues for the World Cup and also one of two in the Eastern Cape along with St. George’s Park in Gqeberha.

Khoza and his team have been on a progress tour inspecting stadiums with just a year left until the start of the tournament, and he credited both the provincial and local governments of the two municipalities for coming to the party in getting the host cities ready and on schedule.

"We met with the Premier of the province as well as the mayors of the two cities, and we commend their effort and investments in relation to stadium upgrades."

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Khoza is not having any sleepless nights about the upgrades to the infrastructure at Buffalo Park, despite the rain halting the work there at times. 

He says they’ve been given assurance that the venue will be delivered on time.

He revealed that all the venues give a monthly report to make sure they achieve all the key milestones in their preparations, and believes the first ODI between the Proteas and Bangladesh on December 1 will be a big test for the stadium’s capacity to host big events.

"From a cricket perspective we are ready. We have a team from the ICC and we have suppliers who will be dressing up the stadium to ensure that it is ready for the World Cup. Test us on the Proteas ODI match here against Bangladesh and you'll see that this venue will be ready for the World Cup."

In terms of the conditions of the pitch Khoza was satisfied with its state, saying it meets the standards required by the ICC.