World Cup Fever Now Sweeping the Caribbean

With less than 100 days to go to the start of the 2007 World Cup, officials in the Caribbean are frantically putting the finishing touches to arrangements for the hosting of the event.

International Cricket Council (ICC) and local organizers have just completed a crucial make-or-break spin through the region to examine the stadiums and assess the readiness of the nine countries hosting the matches.

All have been given the green light, with minor concerns about timelines for completion of some parts of the infrastructure.

In Barbados, where the final will be contested on April 28, the government is spending $67.5 million on upgrading the famous Kensington Oval. This does not cover major improvements to the islands airport, roads, medical, and other ancillary facilities.

This sort of development is taking place in all, if not most of the nine host territories which also include Antigua, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Trinidad.

In Antigua, they have built a completely new stadium with the help of the Chinese government which will carry the name of the islands most famous son of the soil, Sir Vivian Richards, the former West Indies batting legend of the 1970s and 1980s.

Guyana has leaned on the Indian government for help to construct the new Providence Stadium to replace the Bourda Oval sward which was outdated and flooded every time it clouded over the capital of Georgetown.

Jamaica and Trinidad too, the most populous of the English-speaking Caribbean nations, as well as St. Vincent have followed Barbados and have also made improvements to the long-serving Sabina Park, Queen Park Oval, and Arnos Vale respectively.

St. Lucia opened the Beausejour Stadium four years ago and have hosted Tests and one-day internationals, while St. Kitts inaugurated the new Warner Park earlier this year when India visited the Caribbean.