A Venue Assessment Team (VAT) from the International Cricket Council Cricket 2007 World Cup committee will visit Guyana on May 27, president of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Chetram Singh said yesterday.
The visit will be to assist the organisers to make a determination whether to allow Guyana to host matches of the 2007 World Cup.
According to the GCB boss, the VAT will be in Guyana merely to verify the accuracy of Guyana's Bid Book presentation as it relates to the 649 questions from the 24 different sections that comprised the 2007 World Cup Bid Book.
Guyana's Bid Book, which was prepared by Phillip Allsopp and signed by President Bharrat Jagdeo and Singh, in their capacities as President of Guyana and the GCB respectively, was submitted by Minister responsible for Sports Gail Teixeira, last Wednesday.
"All elements of the submissions including time of delivery, completeness and content will now be considered by the Venue Assessment Team, comprising an independent group of world games experts headed by the global sports marketing company, IMG," Chris Dehring, the managing director of ICC CWC WI 2007, told the Caribbean Media Corporation after the bid submissions.
Singh is optimistic that Guyana will be allocated matches although he could not say how many or what type of matches the country will be allowed to host.
The VAT, alongside representatives of the International Cricket Council and CWC 2007, will visit each bidding country between May 24 and June 7 to inspect the facilities and clarify elements of the bid submissions before deciding which countries should host matches come 2007.
That decision will be announced on July 2 with the award of matches set for July 12.
Guyana is one of 11 countries that submitted bids to the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Barbados.
Trinidad failed to make the deadline but it is unclear whether this will affect its chances, while the Bahamas pulled out at the last moment.
Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica are the traditional big four of West Indian cricket and that factor should be a plus in their favour once their bids meet the stipulated requirements.