Florida, Caymans want to host W/Cup matches

GROS-ISLET: Delegates who attended Saturday’s Venue Summit One, put on by the Venue Assessment Team (VAT) of ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) West Indies 2007, left on Sunday motivated to develop their bids to stage matches when cricket’s most prestigious competition is held in the region in the next 43 months.

“I’m impressed with what was presented. Based on what they are saying it is difficult for any venue at the moment to be qualified to stage World Cup 2007,” President of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Chetram Singh told CMC. The Guyanese cricket chief said he was hopeful Guyana would stage matches, while announcing that a new stadium will be built to assist the country in its bid. “Our president was in India recently and had some contact with the Indian government which promised to actually build a stadium for Guyana. As we are talking now, three Indian experts should be in Guyana looking at a feasibility study. By the time we go home we will have talks with them to ensure we start,” Singh added. Singh said Major General Norman McLean chairs the committee and that the people of Guyana were optimistic about the World Cup. “We are not looking at a final or semi-final. We are looking at the preliminaries or quarter-finals, because we are very conscious of the fact that we do not have the amount of accommodation needed for a final or semi-final, so we are trying to live within our limitations,” Singh admitted. The City of Lauderhill of Broward County, Florida also intends to submit bid documents to the 2007 World Cup host committee to host a portion of the World Cup. Mayor Richard Kaplan headed their delegation, which has the former West Indies bowling great Lance Gibbs as chairman of their committee.

Kaplan said many issues were addressed during the day-long summit. “It was interesting how they presented many of the issues and requirements. We have quite a few people in our delegation knowledgeable about cricket and enjoy the sport. We have many people in South Florida who are followers of cricket. They have worked diligently with us, supporting the creation of tournaments and games. It has progressed quite significantly over a relatively short period of time,” Kaplan told CMC. He noted that the people of the city predominantly come from Caribbean islands. “They are really supportive of the action that we are taking and they are looking forward to some positive responses from us as they hope to see some of the games played in their area,” Kaplan added. Former Trinidad and Tobago player Theo Cuffy, who for several years has been involved in cricket development in the Cayman Islands, attended the summit as that country’s Technical Director. He described the day as absorbing and said a lot of doors have now been opened. “Even those countries that are prominent in the West Indies and their representatives must have seen something they haven’t seen before. It was an intensive day,” he said.