GORDON KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC):
THE CASH-strapped West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is expected to shed its huge debt burden shortly, thanks to the profits earned from the recently hosted Cricket World Cup (CWC) in the Caribbean.
WICB president Ken Gordon, also chairman of the ICC CWC 2007 Inc.'s board of directors, described the event as a financial success and said the profits would serve to eliminate the regional governing body's current financial deficit.
"We compare very favourably with much larger countries that have hosted this event before," Gordon said following a meeting of the board of directors here last week.
"We sold more tickets than the last two Cricket World Cups in South Africa and England and garnered US$32 million in ticket revenue which the ICC has told us is the highest gate ever.
"Along with the high standard of organisation of the matches, these are worthy achievements the Caribbean can be justifiably proud of. The profit from the event will also eliminate the deficit of the WICB and this augurs well for the future of West Indies cricket"
Gordon said about 672,000 tickets had been sold for the March 13 to April 28 tournament, which was more than the 625,000 sold at the previous World Cup in South Africa and the 1999 event in England which sold 476,000.
At the meeting, the board also commended the management and overall staging of the event.
"We broke new ground by hosting this event successfully in the Caribbean. Of course, there are lessons we have learned and things which occurred that could not have been anticipated," Gordon said.
"The fact that we were able to effectively deal with the challenges is a credit to the excellent work and high quality of the management team. The staging of the Cricket World Cup was an experience we all take great pride in.
"The directors are very satisfied with the overall results of the tournament. First and foremost is the fact that the region was able to deliver on its host agreement, satisfying all the important deliverables of this major undertaking.
"This was always going to be challenging given the number of countries involved, the lack of infrastructure at the time when the region committed to the project and the relatively small size of our economies. But despite all this, the West Indies got the job done."
He continued: "The directors were unanimous and unreserved in their praise for the entire management team under the outstanding leadership of Chris Dehring.
Facing tremendous pressure and odds to pull this region together to accomplish this historic feat, they did a thoroughly professional job. We are very proud of their achievements and those of the Local Organising Committees (LOC)."
The World Cup, staged in the Caribbean for the first time, was plagued by several issues including initial poor attendances, high ticket prices and the early exit of major teams Pakistan and India.
It was also marred by the death of Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer who was found dead in his hotel room in Kingston, Jamaica, a day following his team's shock defeat to minnows Ireland.
The final, staged in Barbados and won by Australia, was a fractious, rain-hit affair which ended in semi-darkness after match officials erred in applying the playing conditions.
