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Contact:
Primus Hutchinson
Tuesday, March 02, 2004 – Prime Minister and Minister for Finance and
International Financial Services, Honourable Dr. Kenny Anthony has described the
possibility of staging the World Cup Cricket Tournament here as an extremely
costly undertaking, which will require allocation of very significant resources.
Prime Minister Anthony made those remarks recently, while receiving officially,
the Bid Book for World Cup Cricket-2007 from Chairperson of the St. Lucia Bid
Committee, Minister for Education, Human Resource Development, Youth and Sports,
Honourable Mario Michel.
Dr. Anthony suggested that the matter be studied very closely and an appropriate
approach be designed, if the country eventually decides to meet the cost. Dr.
Anthony is also of the view that the financial context of the entire enterprise
must be well understood, since there are financial challenges that must be met
along the way.
“It is going to be very important that the entire country hold hands as we go,
because this is not just about the Ministry of Sports or about the committee
that has been established to see us through the process. It is really about St.
Lucia, all of St. Lucia”, Dr. Anthony said.
Minister Michel indicated that it was the first time that a host country would
be required to complete the formal Bid Book for the World Cup Cricket Series. He
said that the nearly 300-page document prepared by the ICC Cricket World Cup
West Indies, 2007 was a compulsory exercise to be undertaken by all countries
seeking to host matches for that International Cricket Tournament.
According to Mr. Michel, the Bid Book is prepared by the World Cup Company in
the form of twenty-four deliveries bowled at the various bid committees that
they must play. “And how well they play them will determine the score that they
will get at the end of the encounter; and that score will determine which
country will finally be selected to host matches in World Cup 2007” Michel said.
Thirteen countries from the state of Florida and the Caribbean have indicated
their intention to bid for the World Cup cricket matches in 2007. Six of these
countries are expected to be formally awarded matches. Announcement of the
successful bidders will be made on July 12, when the bids will be finalized.
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