West Indies on track for CWC 2007

Malcolm Speed, Chief Executive Officer of the International Cricket Council, is satisfied with the progress that the West Indies Cricket Board has made towards the Caribbean staging the Cricket World Cup 2007.

WC2007 Media Briefing Photo © WICB

Speed, Campbell Jamieson, Commercial Director of ICC Development International, and Warren Deutrom, Cricket Events Manager of the ICC, met on Friday in Bridgetown with officials of the West Indies Cricket Board's Interim World Cup Committee, including WICB President, Rev. Wes Hall, and Chris Dehring, Managing Director and Chief executive Officer of Windies World Cup 2007, to discuss a wide range of issues relating to the event.

"We had quite a long meeting the purpose of which is now that the CWC 2003 is over, our focus now turns to 2007 and to the West Indies and this was a chance for the ICC to be updated about where the CWC 2007 is at the moment and to plan for the next four years," Speed told a news briefing on Saturday in the conference room of the Sir Garfield Sobers Pavilion at Kensington Oval.

"As a result of that meeting, we are very pleased to be able to report that West Indies is well and truly on track to deliver the CWC 2007. There has been a good deal of planning, a great deal of strategic thought has gone into the process to date, and we were very pleased to sit in the meeting and come away confident that West Indies is on track.

"There will be some difficulties in running the CWC 2007 because we are dealing with a region that consists of 14 separate countries. We addressed that issue and a few others on Friday, but we are very confident as we move forward that the WICB and WWC 2007 will be able to deliver an excellent World Cup."

Speed added the ICC was very, very excited about hosting the CWC 2007 in the West Indies because it presented them with some unique opportunities.

"It gives us some opportunities to be quite different from previous World Cups and to be different from other sports because no other sport can come to the Caribbean and run an event the way cricket can," he said.

"It will enable people to see different cultures in countries where we play and gives cricket an opportunity to say to the world that we are prepared to tackle difficult projects like running the CWC 2007 in a region such as the Caribbean. This is the challenge that attracts me. It's not the easy option, but with the right people in place we will be able to overcome them."

Dehring, who will spearhead the mission of the CWC 2007, described Friday's meeting with the ICC as "intense, but very fruitful and positive".

"We are confident that we will able to deliver the kind of event that the world is expecting from the Caribbean," Dehring remarked.

"We outlined to the ICC the key elements of our Master Plan for the hosting of the CWC 2007. The Master Plan has been three to four years in the making. We discussed some very sensitive but important issues, such as the question of our venues and the movement of people around the region.

"I think the rest of the world recognises that it is going to be a challenge for West Indies, but we believe it is a unique opportunity to create a CWC that the world will never forget."

Dehring said Friday was also used to solidify the ongoing relationship between the WICB and the ICC. He noted the international body owns the CWC 2007 and it is very important that West Indies, as a responsible member of the ICC, delivers a World Cup to meet all expectations.

"The CWC 2007 has to be run to international standards and we are going to have to be working very closely with the ICC and the Global Cricket Corporation, who are the substantial commercial rights holder for the event, to deliver a CWC that the world is expecting," he said.

Dehring indicated that the planning process was entering a very, very intense and exciting phase and over the coming months, the WICB/WWC will be sitting down with the ICC to work out the details of the competition, like the format of matches and the number of venues.

"First and foremost and very important to the minds and the comfort of the people of the Caribbean, we are going to be working very diligently on the Host Agreement which we are hoping to have signed by October this year," he commented.

"It will be a very critical document for the Caribbean but that only puts in place the legal jurisdiction and mental comfort for the Caribbean. But the reality from now though is it's all systems, `Go'! The Caribbean is hosting the CWC 2007 and we will be ready for it."

Rev. Hall said though some people have a commitment to doubt the ability of the West Indies to successfully host the CWC 2007, the WICB and the region had a commitment to do what was essential to make sure the next CWC is one of the best ever.

"It was a transport of delight that we concluded the meeting on Friday and that both sides were rather happy with the discussions," he said.

"We feel that our job now is to more or less encourage the people of the Caribbean. The ICC owns the event and they want us to deliver it. We can only deliver it once the six million people in the Caribbean recognise this is our time to show the world that we can do what the other host nations have done."

The CWC 2007 will be the ninth edition of the global limited-overs cricket competition.