Confusion over absent W/Cup bid

CONFUSION reigned yesterday about the decision of the Trinidad and Tobago Government not  to bid for any specific matches in the 2007 World Cup cricket tournament to be staged in the Caribbean for the first time. Prime Minister Patrick Manning, speaking on Thursday after the weekly Cabinet meeting at White Hall in Port-of-Spain, made the shock announcement. It was mere hours before the deadline for the bid packages closed in Barbados. He said that it was not in Caricom’s interest for TT to be engaged in a bidding war with neighbouring islands for matches in the prestigious quadrennial contest which is expected to inject more than US $100 million into the regional economies.

TT were widely expected to make a claim for the opening ceremony at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo and five matches comprising four preliminaries and a semi-final, all to be staged at the refurbished Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain. he decision not to participate in the bidding for specific matches has been linked to lobbying for support by Government of Caribbean countries for the siting in Port-of-Spain of the headquarters of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).However yesterday Ellis Lewis, president of the TT Cricket Board said he was confident that 2007 World Cup matches will be hosted here. Lewis told Newsday he is optimistic that TT will not be left out and that the opening ceremony and first round matches involving hosts West Indies would be staged at the Oval. Lewis reiterated that matches will be allocated after reports from the Venue Assessment Team (VAT) in collaboration with the International Cricket Council (ICC).

“The VAT will be going all around to those countries who have submitted bids to determine their capability to stage World Cup events and I believe they cannot leave us out,” said Lewis yesterday from Tobago where he is employed by the Regional Health Authority. Lewis is expected to attend a West Indies Cricket Board Meeting today and tomorrow in Barbados and will then proceed to Amsterdam in The Netherlands for a meeting of the ICC’s Cricket Development Com-mittee on May 14 and 15. And in another twist to the cricket saga which caught everyone unawares on Thursday, Chris Dehring, managing-director of the World Cup Organising Committee said he disagrees with the TT Government’s decision not to make specific bids for the matches.

Speaking on i95.5 FM Radio, Dehring, a Jamaican financial expert, said the bidding process should be welcomed by all. He said that he went at length to explain to the government officials that there was no undermining of a rival bid by offering to host matches. “At the end of the day an assessment will be made with help from the technical committee on where to host the matches for the benefit of the whole region,” Dehring said. He emphasised that there was a certain procedure in place and that he expected “creative” bids from the Caribbean countries hoping to stage the biggest event in world cricket. “I expect other forms of creative proposals.

It is the nature of the Caribbean,” said Dehring, who is committed to organising the biggest and best tournament ever. Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Roger Boynes who was intimately involved with his technocrats in the preparation of the bid yesterday came out in defence of the PM’s decision. “We have taken a decision not to compete with the other islands as we feel we should host the World Cup as a Caricom region,” said Boynes on i95.5FM radio. “We have always articulated this position and have put in a submission that we are ready and willing to handle any package,” Boynes said.