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Want to watch World Cup 2007? Read this
rediff Cricket Bureau
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February 08, 2006 18:50 IST

You and I might wonder how Rahul Dravid [Images] and Greg Chappell's [Images] new look Team India will fare at World Cup 2007, but the organisers of the cricket world's biggest event have other worries.

With just about a year to go, the nine island countries of the Caribbean are huffing to put the infrastructure in place.

According to a report in the British newspaper The Independent, the logistics of transporting the officials and players between the nine islands, hosting thousands of fans and building 12 new stadiums at a frantic pace are what the organisers are struggling with.

The World Cup 2007 Schedule

Chris Dehring, the chief executive of the World Cup organising committee, admitted to The Independent that he was sure demand for accommodation would far surpass supply.

He, however, added that the Caribbean islands are used to housing far more people than the number of hotel rooms. He cited the example of Trinidad, which has just 2,000 hotel rooms but hosts 40,000 people during the annual carnival.

All the World Cup pitches have to be ready by July, and experts from the International Cricket Committee are keeping tabs on the progress. Dehring told The Independent that some recent reports about how the grounds were behind schedule were exaggerated and that the nine islands working on 12 stadiums effectively meant that each country was trying to build one stadium, which was doable.

He also assured the newspaper that despite the world's apprehensions about how cricket is administered in the West Indies [Images], it would be a 'fantastic World Cup; you may stand in line a little longer but you're going to have the best time in that line that you've had in your life, so the fact that you have to wait a little longer won't matter that much.'


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