This was revealed yesterday at a press conference held by the Local Organising Committee (LOC) at the LOC's Boardroom on Middle Street, and chaired by Minister responsible for Sport Dr. Frank Anthony.

Among those present yesterday were Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) president Chetram Singh and LOC Cricket Operations Manager Clyde Duncan.

The matches will be the first real cricketing test for the stadium and the Carib Beer match will be held from January 28 to 31 while the KFC matches will be held on February 2 and 10.

Dr. Anthony confirmed that the Venue Assessment Team (VAT) which visited the stadium recently had approved both the Providence Stadium and Bourda pitches, during their visit.

However, Dr. Anthony revealed that the practice pitches were cause for major concern.

As such, a special sub committee consisting of Singh, Major General (retired) Norman Mc Lean, GCB Secretary Bishwa Panday and Director of Sport Neil Kumar, has been formed to correct the situation with the practice pitches.

That committee has sought the assistance of former Georgetown Cricket Club president Geoffrey Fraser who has a wealth of experience in local soil properties.

And though the Provi-dence Stadium and Bourda pitches have been given the ICC's approval rating, Dr. Anthony disclosed that the stadium outfield and the Everest pitch, which would also be used for practice matches needed quite a bit of work to meet ICC standards.

Dr. Anthony, however, said he was confident all the deadlines would bet met.

Singh said yesterday that Terra Firma, the firm that laid the outfield, would be in Guyana on Tuesday to assist in bringing the outfield up to required standards.

Terra Firma's contract stipulates that their responsibility continues until six months after completion.

Both the Bourda and Everest outfields were satisfactory while the Everest pitch failed the recent Venue Assessment because of excessive moisture, a problem that could be easily resolved, it was reported.

In response to a question about drainage, Singh said that the recent rainfall provided an ample opportunity to assess the drainage capability of the stadium outfield, which, he said he was happy to report was excellent.

Although all the outfields of the cricket grounds in Georgetown are currently still wet the stadium outfield is dry.

Stadium equipment due

The ground equipment for the stadium is due to arrive December 12 but a large nine-ton roller is accessible to the ground staff on an as-needed basis.

Specific structural adjustments to the stadium itself are still needed, such as adjustment to the present camera angles provided in the media centre and the sight screen below the media centre which, although it meets the ICC 14' requirement, the gradient of the slope between the pitch and the boundary, causes the necessity of an additional strip of white to be placed approximately two feet in height at the bottom of the media centre directly above the sight screen, reporters were told.

The minister announced that the LOC decided on Thursday to create a 100-day calendar displaying critical junctures of the stadium preparation. He also stated that the LOC would host weekly press conferences.

The LOC stated that they still needed participants for their Bed and Breakfast (B&B) programme and vehicles and drivers for their transportation programme.