Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Gail Teixeira (right) and Guyana Cricket Board president Chetram Singh (second right) welcome the 2007 West Indies World Cup Venue Assessment Team members Donald Lockerbie (extreme left) and Chris Dehring on their arr
The Venue Assessment Team (VAT) for the International Cricket Council's (ICC) West Indies World Cup 2007 arrived in Guyana last evening and were met by local cricket board officials and representatives of the government.
Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green, an outgoing passenger, also took the time to meet the members of the team.
The team which includes cricket experts and officials from the ICC and West Indies CWC 2007 Inc. will begin the Guyana leg of their verification process for countries bidding to host matches in the ICC CWC 2007 this morning.
The aim of the VAT is to verify information that was submitted by the 11 countries bidding to host matches in 2007 in the bids they presented.
The VAT will also have a first-hand look at the proposed site of Guyana's stadium which will be erected in time to host matches of the 2007 World Cup tournament.
The VAT has already visisted a number of countries including St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Grenada and Trinidad & Tobago.
The VAT is expected to meet today with the major players in Guyana's bid to host matches including local cricket board officials and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports .
The 12-member group includes ICC officials: Andy Atkinson, ICC Pitch Consultant and Eugene Van Vuuren, ICC Venue Consultant; CWC 2007 officials, Christopher Dehring, Managing Director and Donald Lockerbie, Venue Development Director.
The VAT includes Andrew Wildblood, Senior International Vice-President - IMG/TWI and a Director of the VAT; Nigel Rushman, Managing Director of Rushmans Ltd and Managing Director the VAT and Bob Laing, Principal of Sinclair Knight Merz and a Director of the VAT. Other members are Rory Steyn of Rushmans Limited who is Security Advisor for the VAT; Mandy Keegan of Rushmans Ltd; Peter Calf of Sinclair Knight Merz and Laurie-Ann Holding of Kelly Holding Ltd. Rebecca Stauter of the ICC CWC Venue Development Department is the coordinator of the Verification Tour.
The Verification Tour ends on June 12.
The final decision whereby countries will be chosen to host matches will be announced on July 4 and the matches that will be awarded to these countries will be announced on July 13, during an event that will be broadcast live throughout the region on radio and television.