Jeff Hunte (left) and Lindell Nurse of PriceWaterhouseCoopers check the documents from 11 countries which have made offers to host matches in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) - The Bahamas withdrew, Trinidad & Tobago were late, but 10 other countries have made formal offers to host matches in the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007.

When the deadline time of 7:30 pm arrived on Thursday, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Bermuda, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts/Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, and the United States were the countries that submitted their offer documents to the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Barbados.

Trinidad & Tobago, however, submitted their documents almost 1-1/2 hours after the deadline, but 2007 World Cup officials shed no light whether the country would incur a penalty.

"All elements of the submissions including time of delivery, completeness and content will now be considered by the venue assessment team, comprising an independent group of world games experts headed by the global sports marketing company, IMG," Chris Dehring, the managing director of ICC CWC WI 2007, said on the CMC Radio Sports programme yesterday.

He added: "We are extremely pleased that so many countries have made themselves available to share with the WICB and CWC 2007, the responsibility of hosting this mammoth event.

"This response by the national cricket associations and their respective Governments gives us tremendous confidence to collectively stage a successful Cricket World Cup in 2007."

The CWC 2007 host venues are scheduled to be announced on July 2 with the award of matches set for July 12.
News had emerged late on Thursday in Port of Spain that T&T did not make a specific bid to stage any World Cup matches, but would take any for which other countries had not bid.

"T&T must guard against giving the impression that we are grabbing," Prime Minister Patrick Manning disclosed at a post Cabinet news conference.

"Our improved prosperity in recent times and increased influence in the region have been a source of some discord. We have advanced ourselves as a candidate for headquarters of the FTAA and we have had the support of all CARICOM countries."

Manning seemed to suggest that T&T did not want to compete against countries that were going to support its bid to host the HQ of the FTAA.

"The benefits that could accrue from these matches would be more needed in those countries than in T&T," he said. "Therefore, T&T decided to defer, to make ourselves available to host whatever we are asked to host."

He continued: "We made it clear that we have the facilities, a new stadium is being built in Union Park, in Bacolet in Tobago and all the facilities here are being upgraded. That puts T&T in a position to host the most sophisticated games if called upon to do so.

"We are prepared to take up what the other countries do not. Even so, the ICC itself and the World Cup company may allocate any match and that could be a mandate. It is not unlikely that T&T could be allocated a major match."

The venue assessment team, alongside representatives of the International Cricket Council and CWC 2007, will also visit each bidding country between May 24 and June 7 to inspect the facilities and clarify elements of the bid submissions.

The venue assessment team will then make their recommendations based solely on technical merit to the board of directors of CWC 2007, who will decide the host venues and match awards, subject to the approval of the ICC.

Ehsan Mani, president of the International Cricket Council, was equally impressed by the support from countries in the region.

"The ICC strongly supports the diligent approach and selection process that CWC 2007 has implemented, which is a fair and transparent one used with success in other major sporting events," he said.

"The responses from so many countries in the Caribbean and the United States augur well for the organisers and we look forward to the next stage when the submissions are assessed and matches awarded."

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