November 09 Saturday 2002
Windies chief says issues World Cup warning

KINGSTON: Long-standing Test-playing country Jamaica could come under pressure to host matches when World Cricket Cup comes to the Caribbean in 2007 unless improvements are made to facilities at Sabina Park and a truly competitive bid is forthcoming. 

That warning has come from Managing Director and CEO of the Windies World Cup 2007, Chris Dehring. "Look what's happening around the Eastern Caribbean. St. Lucia builds the most fantastic cricket stadium you could ever imagine in the Caribbean and they're going to start taking cricket away from Jamaica, who has been hosting Test (matches) since 1930," Dehring said. 

Dehring revealed that cricket officials in the Bahamas area are also excited about the World Cup and have indicated as such. "Cayman, Bermuda, Turks and Caicos, USA, Canada and Argentina are also looking to host matches too," added Dehring. 

"The World Cup is allocated on a regional basis and they are a part of the region so all countries in the Caribbean better make sure they put their best foot forward if they are to host matches," the former Chief Marketing Executive of West Indies Cricket Board, noted. 

"Right now, we average about 15,000 seats per stadium and we hope to have 30-35,000 seats per stadium for the world cup," he said. "The USA is very much in the hunt to host matches and with their resources, can obviously be very competitive," Dehring suggested. "They (America) flew us up there and told us to tell them how many seats we need, how many luxury sky boxes, how many regular sky boxes, how many press facilities. "They said it could take 30 days to put up the stadium and 10 days to pull it down," Dehring said. "This is how the Americans think. They showed us some of their temporary luxury sky boxes, nothing like what our permanent boxes here in Jamaica look like, so they can do it. "I must tell you, it's going to be a very competitive environment," Dehring added.