West Indies head for NZ after visa hiccup

The West Indies squad is headed for New Zealand from Abu Dhabi after a hold-up over visa issues. The squad was due to leave on Monday to join up with the coach, John Dyson, who has already reached New Zealand.

The captain, Chris Gayle, and the rest of the squad had been held up in Abu Dhabi and London, but the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) said there was no reason for alarm. "The WICB's cricket operations department explained that travel arrangements had to be reorganised after the team decided to take advantage of the opportunity to stay on in Abu Dhabi for some intensive training," a release said.

"This necessitated transiting Australia en route to New Zealand - for which visas were required."

Reports indicated that Sulieman Benn, Fidel Edwards and Denesh Ramdin, and media liaison Philip Spooner - all of whom were travelling to New Zealand from the Caribbean - were in a London hotel waiting for the WICB to obtain visas for them.

The rest of the squad remained in Abu Dhabi, where they have been since the conclusion of a three-match ODI series against Pakistan.

Dyson, who arrived in New Zealand on Monday, admitted that there were issues with the players' visas but he expected the rest of the team to arrive in Christchurch over the next couple of days.