Cricket-News.Org

ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 has created another regional “first” with the appointment of 16 travelling liaison officers who will be assigned to specific teams throughout next year’s tournament.

The custom, for previous international series in the Caribbean, has been that teams are assigned liaison officers when they arrive in each country where they play. However, for the first time, each team will have a personal liaison officer who will travel with them for the duration of its involvement in the Event.

“These travelling liaison officers will meet the teams when they arrive at their respective Warm-up match destination. They will then travel with their specific team to the Opening Ceremony and then on to the Group Stage, and then for the rest of the tournament, until that team is eliminated,” explained ICC CWC WI 2007 Inc. Cricket Operations Director, Michael Hall.

The decision to institute travelling liaison officers for ICC CWC 2007 stemmed from requests by touring teams who have played in the West Indies in recent years.

“Certainly when I was at the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) it was something that teams had asked for. Next year, we intend to host the best Cricket World Cup ever and this is another way in which we seek to do so, by catering to the needs of teams,” explained Hall, who was previously Chief Cricket Operations Officer at WICB.

The 16 travelling liaison officers were selected on the basis of nominations submitted by each Host Venue’s Local Organising Committee (LOC) and territorial cricket board. In a few instances, requests by the managers of Participating Nations were also taken into account. There is at least one travelling liaison officer from each of the nine Host Venues.

Grenadian, Dwain Gill, is among the 16 chosen to serve in this capacity and is “excited at the prospect of being involved in the Cricket World Cup”.

The 31-year-old, who has previously been liaison officer for England and Bangladesh when they played the West Indies in Grenada, has been assigned to Sri Lanka and brings a solid cricketing background to this assignment. As a teenager, he represented the Barbados Under-16 team and, since returning to his homeland, has become coach of the island’s Under-19 boys’ team and the Grenada senior women’s team.

“I really enjoy being a liaison officer and I see this as an opportunity to serve West Indies cricket. Obviously, I will have to do some research on the Sri Lankan team. It’s a privilege to be chosen to work with a team like Sri Lanka which would be expected to at least progress to the Super 8 stage,” he said.