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More than 150 participants, both regional and international, will attend Venue Summit IX and other related meetings in Saint Lucia, starting tomorrow (Sunday June 4, 2006).

The Venue Summit gets underway tomorrow and runs until Thursday June 8, with several venue integration sessions and departmental workshops. Participants will include CEOs and other officials from the nine Local Organising Committees (LOCs), ICC CWC WI 2007 Inc. Heads of Departments (HODs), the Venue Development Team, Corporate Communications Team, the Design Team, the Commercial Team, the Cricket Operations Team, the Medical Directorate Team, the Event Management Team, the Volunteer Team and other members of staff from ICC CWC WI 2007 Inc.

ICC CWC WI 2007 Inc. Venue Development Director, Donald Lockerbie, says this ninth summit –

most of which will be held at Beausejour Stadium – will pay close attention to the temporary stadia improvements.

“The focus of this Venue Summit will be the overlay planning for the temporary stadia improvements for Cricket World Cup, including temporary grandstands and tent villages. There will also be meetings on security planning, media management and accreditation,” he disclosed.

“We will also be introducing the Venue Graphics Plan to the LOCs. This will focus on stadium signage, venue dressing and sponsor branding of stadia.”

Lockerbie added that a “key element” of the Venue Summit would be the integration meeting between the Venue Development and Commercial departments “to plan in detail all of the catering and concession areas, the merchandise sales areas, the Hospitality areas and also to finalise the detailed seating manifest for Ticketing”.

The week-long gathering will also accommodate Corporate Communications Workshop V, Cricket Operations Forum III, Tournament IT & Telecommunications IV and Medical & Anti-Doping Directorate V which will be held at various hotels in Saint Lucia.

The Corporate Communications Workshop, being held next Wednesday to Friday, will centre on key topics building up to the tournament. These include Crisis Communications Training, Umbrella Marketing and Promotional Activity, Risk Summary and Tournament Time Staffing as well as a review and update on the Anti Infringement Programme (AIP). Officials from the Corporate Communications Department of ICC CWC WI 2007 Inc. and Communications Managers from the nine LOCs will attend this three-day meeting.

Meanwhile, Cricket Operations Forum III, scheduled for next Wednesday and Thursday, will focus on Airport and Hotel Protocols for Teams and Match Officials, Practice Sessions operations, Ground Transportation and Match Day logistics as well as assessing CWC Cricket Operations staff during the ongoing West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Home Series.

ICC CWC 2007 Cricket Operations Director, Michael Hall, notes that this meeting comes in the midst of the WICB Home Series which has been giving the LOCs and territorial cricket boards an opportunity to work together. The ICC CWC 2007 Cricket Operations Team, all LOC Cricket Operations Managers and key personnel from Host Venue cricket associations will participate in the Forum.

“This is the third in a series of workshops which form part of the overall Cricket Operations Plan developed by CWC 2007 Inc. It provides an excellent opportunity for us to interact with the LOCs, who will actually be delivering the Event next year, and to measure the level of progress they have made against Key Result Areas established and agreed some months ago,” explained Hall.

“The current Home Series has presented an opportunity for LOCs and regional cricket boards to work together to stage matches, and this has provided some important ‘match practice’ for them. Early feedback from these matches indicates that there are areas which need tightening up on, and we will be using the upcoming Forum to establish and agree corrective measures for these.”

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Shane Warne will visit the Whitgift School for the first time this Sunday when he leads the Hampshire team in their C&G Trophy match with Surrey.

A big crowd is expected at the picturesque school to see the world’s best spinner on display in what is a must win game for both teams.

Sussex, currently on 10 points, lead the way in the 10 team South group and for Surrey to remain in contention, a win this Sunday is a must. Surrey are currently on five points and Hampshire are on seven so both teams will need a slip up from Sussex to have a chance of topping the group.

No changes have been made to the Surrey line up that won against Glamorgan last Monday. Mark Ramprakash, who missed that game due to illness, will be rested for Sunday’s match, ahead of Surrey’s next Liverpool Victoria County Championship match with Leicestershire starting next Wednesday at the Brit Oval.

James Ormond is also making good progress on his lower back injury that has kept him out of action recently but it is expected that he will be available for selection ahead of Wednesday’s match.

The Surrey line up is; Jonathan Batty (wicket-keeper), James Benning, Stewart Walters, Mark Butcher (captain), Ali Brown, Rikki Clarke, Azhar Mahmood, Ian Salisbury, Tim Murtagh, Mohammad Akram, Jade Dernbach, Scott Newman.

12th man to be named on Sunday morning.

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It’s the largest prize money ever in the history of cricket!   It’s more than the World Cup, more than the Champion’s Trophy, more than any tri series.

The Stanford 20/20 Super Stars will take on the South Africa cricket team in a colossal five million US dollar clash in November at the Stanford Cricket Ground in Antigua.

It is no double header, no best-of-three, no series, it is a single clash – two teams, one game, five million US dollars – winner takes all!

The competition is part of Antiguan financier Allen Stanford’s quest to revive Caribbean cricket and renew the region’s passion for the sport.

The Stanford 20/20 Super Stars will comprise the most outstanding players of the Stanford 20/20 Tournament to be staged in July and August also at the Stanford Cricket Ground. This tournament, the largest ever in the Caribbean, will bring together 19 teams from across the region in a single elimination competition for a grand prize of one million US dollars.

The Stanford 20/20 Super Stars will be hand-selected by the 14 Stanford cricket legends who also comprise the Board of Directors for the tournament.

The South African team has already confirmed their participation through the South Africa Cricket Board.

“This historic Stanford Super Stars match against South Africa will be the exclamation point on what will have been an exciting fast-paced tournament,” said Stanford. “The members of this Super Star team will be the cream of the crop from the 240+ players that we will see during the tournament in July and August. Some of the people on this team will have never been heard of before, but after this match their names will go down in the annals of cricket history.”

The legends are also very excited about the lucrative match. “This is an awesome opportunity for the cricketers in the Caribbean and they should be very excited by the prospect of being chosen for the Super Star team,” said Desmond Haynes. “The players that are a part of this Super Star team will be a part of history and it will be something that they will cherish forever”.

Ian Bishop also felt it was an amazing opportunity, “the international interest in this match will be unrivalled for a match of this nature, it is already making headlines around the world as is the regional tournament and it has not even started as yet!”

The South Africans are one of the best at the shortened format of the game. Earlier this year they set a world One Day International record by chasing down 434 to beat Australia in what was the greatest run chase in the history of one-day cricket. The Proteas have developed a team of high-quality batsmen, dynamic all-rounders, crafty bowlers and world-class fielders.

The match will be televised around the region and internationally and is sponsored by Caribbean Sun and Caribbean Star airlines.

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