LOC Media Briefing

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for Cricket World Cup 2007 Karan Singh said yesterday that the CEOs of the nine host countries would meet in Guyana this week-end.

Singh made the disclosure while chairing a media briefing at the LOC’s office on Middle Street yesterday.

The CEO’s had met prior to this week-end’s meeting but this would be their first meeting in Guyana, Singh explained.

Singh also said that from early next week, the LOC would have a presence at the stadium and all further media briefings would be held there.

Singh also said that the second tour of the ICC’s Venue Assessment Team (VAT) was scheduled to begin in Guyana on February 6.

The team, he said, would be looking at the progress made on the “items to be corrected list” and also would be assessing the transportation and security plans to be implemented for the event.

Work, Singh said was well underway on the practice pitches, while the all-weather pitch was scheduled to be cast (in concrete) this weekend.

Singh said the delay was due to the unavailability of Readimix concrete.

Event Manager Jainarine Singh, showed the media, slides depicting the progress being made on the pitch and outfield.

The Event Manager also said that the sightscreen under the media centre, which, although built to the required 12 feet in height, had to be adjusted to accommodate taller bowlers because of the gradient of the slope between the pitch and the boundary.

CEO Singh stated that the official notification from the Guyana Cricket Board ,required for hosting a Carib Beer or KFC regional fixture at the National Stadium had been received and would be processed to facilitate the staging of those matches.

Meanwhile, the third phase of ticketing which was scheduled to start on January 15 has been pushed back to February 1.

This, it was explained, was the phase of ticketing when patrons would be buying actual tickets assigned to seats according to specifically laid out seating charts.

The corporate ticket programme will continue until the third phase begins in February.