Rawle Brancker: All’s not lost!

by HAYDN GILL

THE three countries which unsuccessfully bid for matches in the 2007 Cricket World Cup will still benefit in a major way from the event.
The assurance has come from CWC 2007 Inc. chairman Rawle Brancker in the aftermath of yesterday’s announcement that United States of America, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Bermuda were overlooked for matches. {{more}}
“The understanding is that the World Cup is for the region, whether a country in the region is hosting a match or not, part of our World Cup charge is to see that it benefits from the World Cup in some tangible way,” Brancker told the DAILY NATION.
“All is not lost. There are excellent warm-up matches from which there should be a lot of activity and economic benefit. “The board of CWC 2007 is going to do everything within its power to see that those who are left out benefit in a significant way from the World Cup.”
While the three unsuccessful countries will not host matches in the tournament itself, they will be afforded the opportunity to host warm-up matches.
Additionally, Bermuda has been identified as an alternate venue should any of the countries have to drop out.
Prior to Tuesday’s announcement from London, Brancker said the bid book system CWC 2007 Inc. put in place would help make it easier to explain why Country A was approved against Country B.
When asked if he could single out factors why the unsuccessful countries were overlooked, he said such answers would be provided in due course, but he emphasised that the bidding process was one which was conducted with fairness and transparency.
After a detailed 290-page bid book was distributed, each country was required to respond to 24 deliverables, which included its handling of accommodation, travel, stadia and security, among other areas.
“All aspects of the country had to be considered. This is where the scientific approach came in measuring the capability of each bidding country,” Brancker said.
After the bids were submitted, a Venue Assessment Team, comprising international experts in varying areas, carried out a verification tour of the venues to satisfy themselves that all the resources were in place to deliver what was bid for.
“Following next week’s equally important exercise by the board to name the match package for each venue, I am confident that we will see that the eight countries starting on a programme to ready their venues to hostthe best World Cup ever,” Brancker said.
“They have the blueprint [master plan] ready. It is just a matter of putting what is on paper in place.”