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Windies open bidding for CWC
06/05/2004 12:14 - (SA)
Bridgetown - Twelve countries ranging from cricket-crazy nations in the West Indies to the United States are bidding to host matches for the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
The deadline for the bids is Thursday, and the decision will be announced on July 12.
The 2007 World Cup is to be the biggest ever with 16 teams participating and 51 matches. As many as eight countries will be allowed to host the matches but because the event was designated to be held in the West Indies, the United States, Bermuda and the Bahamas - as non-members of the West Indies Cricket Board - can only bid to host first-round qualifying matches.
It would be the first time the United States would host a World Cup cricket match. The 12 contenders are Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Guyana, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Miami.
The West Indies, which won the first two World Cup tournaments in England in 1975 and 1979, is hosting cricket's biggest championship for the first time.
Caribbean governments are trying to dispel concerns that their venues are substandard, with some countries building new stadiums and others improving national infrastructure.
Contenders must meet requirements outlined in the World Cup bid book, including having enough stadium seats and hotel rooms, said Chris Dehring, managing director of the West Indies Cricket Board's organising committee.
St Lucia has said it must add 8 000 new seats, new media facilities and security to its Beausejour Cricket Grounds, considered to be the Caribbean's newest and most modern grounds. The country has also discussed adding 3 000 new hotel rooms.
Antigua has received $3.7m from China to renovate its Recreation Ground stadium. Guyana is building a new stadium with $26m in grants and loans from India.
Jamaica is bidding to have two venues for matches. Sabina Park in Kingston and a stadium to be constructed in western Greenfield are the island's potential venues for the series.
Miami's bid is being fronted by Lance Gibbs, the West Indies spin bowler who took 309 wickets in 79 Tests between 1958 and 1976. He has been a Florida resident since 1978.
The bid is centred on the construction of a new $35m park, including a 40 000-seat cricket stadium.
Dehring said a group of experts would spend two months evaluating the bids, including touring each venue, before making recommendations to the organising committee and the International Cricket Council.
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- AP
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