Cricket-News.Org

After an opening session hosted by Donald Lockerbie and Chris Dehring of ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 Inc., delegates from all nine Host Venues are looking forward to a week of productive sessions during Venue Summit IX.

The week-long series of meetings, taking place in Saint Lucia, will see more than 150 international and Caribbean personnel involved in the execution of next year’s mega-cricket event coming together for various interactive, country- specific sessions related to every aspect of the tournament including venue construction, pitch and field and venue dressing.

The day’s proceedings began with a review by ICC CWC 2007 Venue Development Director and Chief Operating Officer, Donald Lockerbie, of the presentation he made at the first Venue Summit. The slideshow featured images of the 2003 tournament in South Africa and showed the benchmark which the 2007 edition of the Event aims to surpass.

“At the time there were only 43 months to go,” Lockerbie quipped as he went on to describe the very real sense of urgency that now prevails in all Host Venues with only nine months remaining before the region stages the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Summarising the key topics to be discussed in the coming days, he continued: “Our objective in these meetings is to look closely at the progress at all of the venues. Now that they’re approaching completion, we are beginning to really focus on the overlay. These are the solutions that are going to turn all 12 of our newly-built or refurbished stadia into Cricket World Cup venues.”

The morning session continued with a short welcome by ICC CWC 2007 Managing Director & CEO, Chris Dehring, who commended the Local Organising Committee (LOC) CEOs and staff on the hard work being done around the region, which recently received recognition from the ICC. He was followed at the podium by representatives from the Design Team and other international programme co-ordinators who will spend the coming days participating in individual meetings with each Host Venue.

Robert Bryan, CEO for the Jamaica LOC expressed his enthusiasm for the programme so far.

“With only 270 plus days before the tournament we have to ensure that every single day is a productive one. While we may have to travel some distance to these meetings, to miss them would be detrimental to our overall delivery as the information and sense of perspective we gain from them is invaluable.”

“There are so many aspects of this Event that are fully interdependent and it is only by participating in these meetings that it is possible to garner a helicopter view of our roles,” he continued.

Venue Summit IX finishes on Thursday while related meetings, including Cricket Operations Forum III, Corporate Communications Workshop V and Medical & Anti-Doping Directorate V, will be held simultaneously through until Friday.

Comments(0)

ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 Inc. Managing Director & CEO, Chris Dehring, has described last weekend’s interaction with the Caribbean community in New York as “extremely positive and a clear indication of the great interest they have in Cricket World Cup”.

Furthermore he has announced that ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 Inc. will be leveraging on the upcoming series of One-Day International (ODI) matches between the West Indies and India in major North American cities to undertake significant promotional and outreach activities for the tournament.

“This weekend provided great insight into just how much persons of Caribbean origin – and others within cricketing circles – want to know about the Cricket World Cup. I gave a full-fledged presentation on the Event at the town hall meeting and I spent a significant amount of time answering questions there and at an earlier meeting with a cross-section of media (last Friday).

“Though they were arranged at short notice, these opportunities to meet and discuss issues related to Cricket World Cup with the Caribbean Diaspora were definitely worthwhile. I anticipate that the information shared in both fora will be spread far and wide,” said Dehring.

Taking advantage of the ICC CWC 2007 Managing Director’s trip to New York for meetings with the American, Canadian and Indian cricket boards, the CARICOM Consuls General invited him to meet and speak with media and the Caribbean Diaspora last Friday (June 2, 2006); updating them on developments regarding ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 which will be held across nine Caribbean countries next March and April.

First, Dehring addressed a cross-section of Caribbean and Indian media representatives, outlining “where we were in the planning” before fielding several questions. This, he reported, was “a particularly enthusiastic meeting…and they were appreciative that I met with them”.

Later that evening, he was the guest speaker at a town hall meeting in the school auditorium of St. Mark’s Church in Brooklyn where a crowd of at least 50 persons absorbed a detailed presentation on ICC CWC 2007 and its Ticketing process.

“This also went very well. There was excellent interaction with the audience though the heavy rains that night no doubt affected attendance,” added Dehring.

He assured, however, that there will be more opportunities for the North American community to be informed of what’s happening with ICC CWC 2007 later this year.

“Officials from Cricket World Cup will definitely be back in North America in the coming months. This is an important market for Cricket World Cup and for the development of international cricket as a whole. We will be using the upcoming One-Day games between the West Indies and India to promote next year’s tournament and to boost interest in the sport in general,” he elaborated, adding that there may be further promotional initiatives in major cities.

Regarding Saturday’s meeting with the cricket boards, Dehring said each board was assigned specific responsibilities and a number of matters were finalised. The proposed One-Day series, a joint venture between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to spur cricket’s development in Canada and the USA, will be staged in leading North American cities later this year.

Comments(0)

Sussex travel to Lancashire’s outground at Liverpool for the next Liverpool Victoria Championship match from Tuesday 6 to Friday 9 June, 2006.

The Sussex Squad
C D Hopkinson, R R Montgomerie, M W Goodwin, C J Adams*, R S C Martin-Jenkins, M J Prior+, L J Wright, Mushtaq Ahmed, R J Kirtley, J D Lewry, OP Rayner, TE Linley, CD Nash.

Injuries
Michael Yardy is out with a dislocated finger. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan is out with a groin strain sustained during the Middlesex game at Horsham. He was borderline ready for the Lancashire match but the decision was taken to rest him to avoid exacerbating the strain and allow full fitness for both his Sussex and Pakistan commitments.

Sussex vs Lancashire
Since the County Championship began in 1890.

Overall, Lancashire leads by 60-36, with 66 draws.
In matches in Sussex, the visitors lead the series by 25-22, with 34 draws.
This will be the 13th meeting between the teams at Liverpool. Lancashire have won six, with six draws – Sussex have never won at this venue.

Interesting Facts about this fixture:
Since the County Championship began in 1890 …

Sussex’s best winning-streak in this fixture is three wins, which they achieved between 1979-81. Lancashire’s best is six wins, registered from 1893-6.
The longest unbeaten streak in this fixture is 17 games by Lancashire, which were also the first 17 meetings between the teams (1890-7). Sussex have previously recorded an unbeaten runs of 11 games, which occurred between 1929-34.
The teams have drawn only twice in their last 14 meetings, dating back to 1992, and the last five encounters have all produced positive results.
The teams last met in 2004, when Lancashire beat the then defending Champions by 10 Wickets at Hove, with Sussex exacting revenge in June with an 8 Wicket win at Old Trafford.

Upcoming Landmarks:
Jason Lewry requires 4 more wickets for 500 Career First-Class Wickets

Comments(0)