Govt, Cricket Board forge 2007 alliance

The Government of Trinidad and Tobago are keen on forming a strong alliance with the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board of Control (TTCBC) to ensure a successful staging of World Cup 2007. Chief executive officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board of Control (TTCBC), Alloy Lequay told Newsday yesterday that the Minister of Sport was very keen to form a strong alliance with his Board. “At the moment we cannot really do anything as far as the World Cup preparations go. We are all awaiting word from the ICC World Cup company as to who got matches and who were unsuccessful,” Lequay said.

The ICC World Cup 2007 Inc will be making this announcement on July 14 in Barbados. After this they will host a gala function at Montego Bay in Jamaica where they will reveal the details of the allocation of matches. TT are heavily tipped to get the “Yellow Package” which includes the opening ceremony, six preliminary round matches involving the West Indies and one semi-final. The opening ceremony is most likely to be staged at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo while the cricket matches will be played at the mecca of local cricket, the Queen’s Park Oval.

Practice matches for the teams in the TT-based group will take place at Roxborough in Tobago and the National Cricket Centre in Balmain. ”The honourable Minister of Sport has communicated to us that the government would like to work hand in hand with the local board in order to put out the best show ever. At present we are ready and willing to serve to make this event a success and I have all the confidence in our people when it comes to staging a great event,” Lequay said.