da imperador bet： The semi-finals and final of the 2007 World Cup will be staged in countriesunder the aegis of the West Indies Cricket Board
Derrick Nicholas28-Nov-2002The semi-finals and final of the 2007 World Cup will be staged in countriesunder the aegis of the West Indies Cricket Board.Chris Dehring, the managing director of Windies World Cup 2007 Inc., hasrevealed the WICB has made this policy a decision and it has beenincorporated into the policies and guidelines of the 2007 World Cup MasterPlan.”This means that those three important matches, as far as the WICB areconcerned, must be played in three of the 14 countries who are an officialpart of West Indies cricket,” Dehring told the monthly luncheon of theBarbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday.Dehring, however, stressed the 2007 World Cup is not the West Indies’ to dowhatever the WICB wants and to any standards they choose.”Windies World Cup 2007 has to be seen and appreciated as a global eventthat the West Indies has been given the privilege of hosting,” he said.”There have been various expressions of concern when mention is made of theUnited States, Cayman Islands, or The Bahamas as potential venues for thehosting of matches in 2007.”But understanding that this event belongs to the International CricketCouncil and, given their vision to spread the gospel of the glorious game,then the possibility that the ICC will want to have matches played in theseterritories is very logical.”Dehring outlined that a fundamental pillar of the WICB’s Master Plan for the2007 World Cup is to maintain a distinctive element of competition betweenthe potential venues in the Caribbean.”The definition of ‘venue’ in this case is the country or city and it isimportant to understand that all the facilities of the ‘venue’ will need tobe assessed,” he remarked.”In this regard also, there will be no such thing as a traditional venue.The so-called traditional venues – Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago andGuyana – will all have to submit a competitive bid like everybody else andwill receive no preferential treatment.””Countries who have invested in new facilities like Grenada, St. Lucia, St.Vincent & the Grenadines, and Antigua & Barbuda insisted on an assurancethat when it comes to the 2007 World Cup, they will be treated on an equalbasis with the so-called traditional venues.”Dehring indicated that professional venue development master planners willbe contracted as part of a Venue Assessment team to assist the WICB withassessing “venues” for the allocation of matches.”In this regard, it won’t matter to professional venue master planners thespecial mystique attached to (grounds) because these are professionals whohave performed similar assessments in football World Cups and in OlympicGames,” he said.”They will assess ‘venues’ and stadiums objectively for the quality andquantity of physical facility which they are, and on the basis that a WorldCup is being staged in the Caribbean and that suitable venues and stadiumswill be required to stage a world class event.”The 2007 World Cup in the West Indies is scheduled for April to May thatyear.