World Cup tickets on sale in May

Tickets for the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies will go on sale from May 1 2006. There will be four categories - category 1 premium seats to category 4 - and a party stand with artificially-created beaches. The first run of tickets will close on July 31, with any left-over tickets going back on sale from September 1.

The West Indies will host 51 matches, played in a 47-day period, with the tournament opening with the hosts meeting Pakistan on March 13.

Prices for the initial pool matches range from $14 to $100, the Super 8 stage from $24 to $100, the semi-finals from $47 to $130 and the final from $100 to $285. Organisers are targeting a minimum of 75% of seats filled.

Chris Dehring, chief executive of the 2007 World Cup, told BBC Sport: "Cricket in the Caribbean is a sleeping giant, just waiting to be re-awoken." And he added that preparations are in place to make it a memorable experience for the thousands of travelling fans expected to converge on the islands: "We are putting in place various mechanisms to make it a little easier for fans to move around the region. For instance, we're working on a one-stop visa to allow fans to be processed once, instead of having to process every time they go through from country to country."

"A tremendous amount of activity is taking place in the Caribbean. A lot of it may have been planned before but what Cricket World Cup 2007 has done is allow countries to focus on a timeline. It has been a really great catalyst for development in the region."