Region Way Ahead in Organising for CWC 2007

Senior Counsel for the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 Inc, Derek Jones, has said that the region is way ahead of where previous hosts, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya were in terms of planning and organization for the third largest spectacle in the world.
“We have learnt enormously from the South African experience. I know it may sound boastful, but it is true,” he said in an interview with JIS News.
“We are very pleased to get the comments from the ICC and other people, who were involved in South Africa, about how pleased they are with the level of detail, the level of care and the level of effort that has gone into planning the Cricket World Cup here. not just in the area of ambush marketing, but the whole issue of the planning and public education that has been done in the region,” he added.
Elaborating, he said that the organization for the hosting of CWC was far more structured than was the case in South Africa. “There is far more of a chain of command within the organization and in terms of who has responsibility for what and the reporting responsibility on a day to day, week to week, month to month basis in the ICC CWC 2007 organization,” he noted.
Mr. Jones said the organization had a very distinguished and keen Board that oversees the work of the CWC. The ICC CWC 2007 Inc. is headed by Chairman of the Board, Ken Gordon, who is the President of the West Indies Cricket Board. “Remember that everything we do, we do on behalf of the West Indies Cricket Board,” he reminded.
“This very distinguished and talented Board meets on a regular basis. If you see the reports that go to the Board and the questions that they ask, you know that this CWC is serious business,” he said.
Then there is Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the ICC CWC 2007 Inc., Chris Dehring, who supervises a range of managers, including those in charge of corporate communication, security, finance, health and legal matters, all of whom report to him. “This is one of the best run organisations that I have ever been associated with,” he informed.
Mr. Jones said there was no room for “foul ups”, as the region would be under more scrutiny than previous hosts of the event. “In the recent ICC Champions Trophy in India, England and South Africa turned up at the same training ground one morning at half past nine. You did not hear a lot about it but trust me, if that happens in the West Indies, you are going to hear about it,” he stated.
The level of detail cricket operations is just staggering, Mr. Jones pointed out. “We can tell you today what time which team is being picked up at what hotel to go to practice and at what ground they will train and how many bottles of water is going to be provided at that ground for the use of the team,” he said.
While extremely confident about the region hosting the “best Cricket World Cup ever”, Mr. Jones said there was still a lot of work to do to ensure that this happens. “Of course the proof of the pudding is in the eating,” he quipped.
Under the Yellow Package, Jamaica will host four warm-up matches, which will be held at the newly constructed Trelawny multi-purpose stadium from March 5 to 9. The opening ceremony for the tournament, which is scheduled for March 11, will also be held at this venue.
Jamaica will also host six first-round matches, including the opening match of the tournament at Sabina Park on March 13, which will put the West Indies against Pakistan. In addition, Jamaica will host a semi-final match on April 24.