Two weeks grace for Brian Lara Stadium

The International Cricket Council (ICC) experts will review a new construction schedule before announcing a final decision in about two weeks as to whether the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba will be used for the World Cup next year.

That was the statement coming from Don Lockerbie, the ICC venue development director, as he and his team of inspectors from the ICC and Global Cricket Corporation completed their sixth tour since 2004 of the local facilities to be used in the build-up and during the World Cup that starts in March.

Plagued by inclement weather and delays in the delivery of steel, the Tarouba ground is in danger of losing its status as a pre-tournament venue that will host warm-up matches including Pakistan, South Africa, Canada and Scotland in January and February.

On Wednesday, Anand Daniel, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) chief executive officer, claimed it would be "unlikely" that the "Lara", part of the Government's planned $850-million elite sports complex at Tarouba, would be ready to be handed over to the ICC by the deadline date of November 30.

Lockerbie concurred with that assessment. "The Brian Lara Stadium is certainly behind schedule and Cricket World Cup (CWC) does have to make a decision about where we go," he stated. "We were there today and received a positive report from the technical team on site that they re-arranged their schedule. But there is no doubt that a full and complete Brian Lara Stadium will not be finished 100 per cent for CWC."

Doubt was also cast on whether the first temporary plan-the use of France-based firm GL Events-would be able to get the job done with temporary seating, the kind which they have utilised in the past at the FIFA World Cup and IOC Olympic events. "What we have to do is determine whether or not enough of the stadium is going be finished so that we can come in with our temporary measures, which we have looked at as an option," Lockerbie explained. "If GL events, which is supplying temporary overlay throughout the region for the World Cup, can do anything at the Lara Stadium to make it ready."

Lockerbie added that he would take the the revised schedule back to the ICC expert team to review and "determine if it is something we still feel that, construction-wise, we can get to a level of play.

"Not only we have to build the stadium by temporary means or permanent, we also have to make sure that seven to ten thousand people can park and can use the services to be entertained in that space. We're gonna make that decision probably in two weeks," he continued. "We will look at whether or not the options we have been given in the new schedule about the stadium will allow it to keep the matches at 'Brian Lara' or if we need to look at another contingency plan."

Lockerbie believed that whether or not the Tarouba venue was ready for CWC, it would still be a "wonderful legacy" to the people and sportsmen of Trinidad and Tobago.