Report: 'Significant' W.I World Cup Doubts

Australia is waiting in the wings as the "fall-back option" to host the 2007 Cricket World Cup because of mounting concerns about the ability of the West Indies to stage the event, according to a report in The Age newspaper.

"As the International Cricket Committee prepares for meetings in Barbados starting tomorrow -- at which preparations for the next World Cup will be discussed -- fears that the cricketing infrastructure of the Caribbean might not measure up are growing," the report said.

"Australia has been informally discussed as the fall-back option to host the event, and would seem the logical second choice. Australia has hosted only one World Cup, in 1992, and was on stand-by as a potential host for this year's event when doubts arose about staging it in South Africa and strife-torn Zimbabwe," according to the story written by Trevor Marshallsea.

Marshallsea, who was a member of the press corps during the recent Australian tour of the Caribbean, quoted Cricket Australia chairman Bob Merriman as saying the fears about the West Indies' ability to host the event have "reached a significant level within the ICC."

"Bob said that there were growing concerns at ICC level about the West Indies holding the event," according to an New South Wales board member who spoke to Marshallsea. "The impression was given that Australia would be well placed to pick up the event, should the West Indies not be able to. It's no surprise that people are worried about the West Indies holding the tournament, because of their financial worries and the general instability in the area."

Marshallsea said another NSW board member, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was well aware of the fears over the 2007 event. "A lot of people are nervous," the source said.

Among the list of concerns are the poor standard of cricket facilities in the Caribbean, including its small grounds and its below-par practice wickets. While some work has begun on upgrading grounds, it is feared organisers will struggle to raise the money needed to stage a world-class event.

Concerns about the organisation of the cup also centre on the West Indies Cricket Board's long history of infighting, with its member nations traditionally pulling in different directions, the newspaper reported.

It is not the first time Marshallsea has painted a less-than-glowing picture of the ability of the West Indies to host the big show. In an interview with the Barbados Nation in June, the Australian writer said the service industry in the Caribbean left a lot to be desired. He said frustrations with airlines, hotels, restaurants and taxi drivers created a "bad public image" for the Caribbean.

"The whole service industry needs to have a look at itself. Whenever things go wrong, nobody seems particularly concerned. No one apologises...They just tell you don?t worry, things will come later on. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't," he added.

Marshallsea also broke the news story about stolen players' luggage at the Piarco airport in Trinidad.

After the publication of those stories, West Indies World Cup boss Chris Dehring went into damage control mode, insisting that the incidents were overblown.

"...We regret that Mr. Marshallsea had such a bad experience and I know that the leadership of the tourism industry are continuously focused on raising the bar on service with the potential benefits of the Cricket World Cup providing a major incentive to this effort," Dehring said at the time.

"Far from concerns, the ICC has been expressing quite a great deal of confidence in the West Indies Cricket Board's and the Caribbean's ability to host the CWC 2007."

"We have been working closely with the management of the ICC to put in place everything that is required for the CWC 2007 and they have been impressed at the level of preparation that the Caribbean has been undergoing to host the CWC 2007."

"Any report indicating anything different is erroneous and we will be doing another presentation about our preparedness to the ICC President Ehsan Mani and chief executive Malcolm Speed when they travel to Jamaica next week.

"We have a schedule with which we are working and we will be sticking to this schedule. We will be signing our Host Agreement with the ICC at the end of the month and we know of no concerns the ICC has about our ability to host the CWC 2007."

Dehring also answered charges that little or no excitement has been generated about the Caribbean hosting the CWC 2007 in the region itself:

"We are still 42 months away from the event and we expect that there will be a gradual build-up of momentum in individual countries...From an organisational perspective, the kind of mobilisation that is taking place in many of the countries augurs very well for the CWC 2007. We have been doing presentations not just to cricket people and Prime Ministers, but entire governments."

"Cabinet meetings have been organised for us and we are making presentations to them. Just last week, we made a presentation to the entire cabinet of Trinidad & Tobago and we have done similar in Jamaica and St. Vincent & the Grenadines among others."