GORDON

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad

(CMC):

West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president, Ken Gordon, said the KFC Cup one-day tournament beginning today would be of great importance to the region, especially with the Cricket World Cup just two months away.

Speaking yesterday at the official launch at the Queen's Park Oval, Gordon said not only would the tournament help to prepare the West Indies cricketers for the World Cup but it would also help other players to grab the selectors' attention.

Exciting phase

"This is a big opportunity for the players to address the selectors. This is the feeding ground for the 'Big Time''and there is no event in the cricketing world bigger than the World Cup," Gordon said.

"West Indies cricket today is at a most exciting phase. Admittedly, there has been a steep decline from the days of being world champions. But it is equally true that we have arrested that decline and are now fighting our way to restore lost glory."

He said during the Cricket World Cup, players and res-pective Caribbean countries would be on show to an audience of more than two billion people, and the KFC sponsorship would have made an important contri-bution in preparing the team for the big occasion.

Gordon thanked KFC for their commitment to the cause of West Indies cricket and said he hoped other corporate entities would come forward to do their part.

"There is no short cut back to the top. To get there we need commitment, we need the dev-elopment of the players and we need the sponsors," Gordon further stated.

In the first round of the KFC Cup, Barbados host Trinidad and Tobago at the Carlton Cricket Club while the Leeward Islands and Jamaica do battle at St. Mary's Park in St. Kitts.

Windward Islands and Guyana will clash at the Tanteen cricket ground in Grenada.