T&T to host ICC tri-series

The Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (T&TCB) will host an ICC Tri-Nation Series between Canada, Zimbabwe and Bermuda from May 16-20 at the Queen's Park Oval.

The announcement was made yesterday at a media conference at the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) skybox at the Oval yesterday. The tournament will serve as preparation for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 to be hosted in the region, and is also part of the overall development of the associate members of the ICC cricket development programme.

Bermuda, placed in Group B in the World Cup, will be based in Trinidad during the group stages while Canada, placed in Group C, will play their warm-up games here as well. Zimbabwe will stay on after the final two games of the seven-match ODI series against the West Indies, that concludes on Sunday in T&T.

The tournament manager of the T&T senior squad and Omar Khan, the PowerGen corporate communications manager said the T&TCB were approached by the ICC to host the tournament and they consented willingly to the request .

Canada arrive on Sunday while Bermuda touch down at Piarco tomorrow. The series will first see Canada playing Zimbabwe on May 16, while Bermuda tackles Canada on May 17 before Bermuda take on Zimbabwe on May 18.

After this brief round-robin format, the top two teams will contest the final on May 20. All four matches, deemed official ODIs by the ICC, are scheduled for the Oval which will only use the refurbished Dos Santos and Jeffrey Stollmeyer Stands to accommodate spectators because of on-going construction work ahead of the ICC WI CWC 2007.

Clive Lloyd will be the match referee and adjudicator for the entire duration of the Series, while Bermuda's Roger Dill and international elite umpire Simon Taufel will be the umpires. Incidentally, Dill will also become the first associate umpire to officiate in an ODI.

"It is something that we at the T&TCB are happy to be associated with," said Khan, "We see this as creating some goodwill between the ICC and the T&TCB and of course, assisting the development of cricket.It will also show our capabilities as an efficient and well-organised cricket board."

Khan continued: "We hope to use this opportunity to sell T&T; to sell our facilities; to sell our cricket. Our cricket board will have the opportunity to sell what we do here and also to identify what some of our needs are in terms developing our infrastructure, our facilities and the overall development of our cricket."

Khan added that the Bermuda and Canadian contingents have signalled that they will be accompanied by a sizeable supporter following for this series, and have asked the T&TCB to reserve adequate tickets, tickets that will cost spectators TT$40.

Chris Briers, the ICC cricket development officer, will be travelling to T&T to oversee the series and will be part of the official ICC panel.

Khan added that the Canadian High Commission had organised for their cricket team to visit the Tranquility Government Secondary School during their stay here as one of a few events they will undertake as part of their Outreach Programme.