The Cricket World Cup 2007 – a political seesaw

The situation is indeed grave and forces us to ponder on who really has been involved in the entire planning exercise relative to the CWC2007. Peterkin declared, "This matter is a grave one which needs to be explained to Jamaica. Caricom has done it again… this time in the name of 58 days of World Cup Cricket… How this could happen is beyond all of us in the industry." A meeting was recently convened in Barbados to deal with the visa issue but the Jamaican industry officials seem intent on ensuring that "If Caricom is not able to cancel the ruling, which comes into effect on January 15, 2007 (and lasts until May 31), then Jamaica should break away from the grouping in the interest of protecting its long-term interest."
In what appears to be a stinging indictment on the way things are going Peterkin is quoted as saying, "I am sorry for the ministers of tour
ism who have been given basket to carry water on this decision,"… "but we have to act in the best interest of Jamaica."

Facilities
Barbados has indicated that the Kensington Oval would not be available for use for the Carib Cup regional Tournament which got started last week. Alternative venues have been used instead for the four-day and one-day matches.
The same has occurred in Jamaica where the Sabina Park is also not ready. In both cases the problem is not with the playing surfaces but rather with the attendant facilities that are still not ready.
Clearly we must be concerned since it would appear that in the region with only a few days left before teams begin to arrive there is a strong sense of last-minutism.
In this region we procrastinate too frequently without necessarily counting the cost. Failure to deliver a world class World Cup in all aspects may hurt us much more than we can possibly imagine.

SVG
The recent rains here in St Vincent and the Grenadines did a fair amount of damage to the construction works that are taking place there. The damage seems relatively serious to the casual observer. The lower part of the fence behind the double-decker stand has fallen into the river.