Mob violence during the India-England match in 2006 and (below) Shoaib Akhtar celebrates after taking a wicket in the November 2007 ODI. File pictures

Guwahati, Jan. 8: It was on the basis of a report by match referee Roshan Mahanama that Guwahati almost lost its status as a One-Day International cricket centre after the India-England tie was abandoned on April 9, 2006 following crowd trouble.

Now, on the basis of another Mahanama report on the November 5 ODI between India and Pakistan at the same venue, the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) is planning to move the BCCI to use its offices to secure Test centre status for Guwahati.

“We have forwarded the match referee’s report to all our district units and are going to discuss the matter in detail in our next governing body meeting before taking it up with the BCCI. The BCCI has already assured us verbally that it will endorse our move in the ICC. It is one of the best opportunities we have in hand,” said ACA secretary Bikash Baruah.

The match referee’s confidential report to the ICC, a copy of which is available with The Telegraph, rates Guwahati as satisfactory in almost all aspects.

Mahanama has rated the venue as satisfactory as far as playing infrastructure and logistics are concerned. The ACA has got “very good” remarks against all arrangements it had made for the match.

However, it is still too big a demand to be accepted by the ICC, feels a member of the ACA.“We can try but I don’t see it happening unless our own stadium comes up. Holding a one-day cricket match and a five-day Test match are different balls altogether. Being a multi-purpose stadium, the arrangements for one-dayers are temporary. For a Test centre, you will need to have the right infrastructure. But in Indian cricket, funnier things have happened,” he said.

However, the match referee’s report mentions the lack of five-star hotels in the city, which is an indispensable requirement for a Test centre. At least two five-star hotels are expected to come up in the city in a few years.

Mahanama, in his report, has also recommended gymnasium and pool facilities in hotels housing the teams.

The ACA had provided its gym and B.P. Chaliha Swimming Pool at the R.G. Baruah Sports Complex for the teams during last year’s ODI, which, however, remained unutilised.

Though the ICC, on the basis of Mahanama’s report on the violence-marred match in 2006, had directed the ACA to increase the seating capacity for the media and widen the entrances of Nehru Stadium, neither has been complied with.

The stadium authorities — Board of Sports, Assam — are yet to respond to repeated pleas by the ACA which has submitted a Rs 86-lakh detailed project report for the renovations.

The ACA had initially offered to bear the expenses provided the Board of Sports, Assam, agreed to reimburse the expenditure on the rent the ACA pays for holding ODIs and coaching camps in the Nehru Stadium.

However, Mahanama did not make any remark on the non-compliance of the directives after coming to know that the ACA was building its own stadium in compliance with the requirements at Barsapara ground here.

The ACA has set a target of completing the stadium by next year.

It has also decided to develop a new pitch at the Nehru Stadium and increase the seating capacity with the help of the BSA if it gets a Test centre status. The existing wicket, laid in 1983, has already outlived its life. The crowd capacity of Nehru Stadium is 24,000.