President of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Chetram Singh said yesterday the unavailability of funds prevented Guyana from sending a representative with the West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) 17-member delegation which toured South Africa recently to view first hand the staging of the 2003 World Cup.
Singh yesterday told Stabroek Sports that the WICB made a request for two delegates, one a government representative and the other from the GCB to accompany the delegation to South Africa for a look at what was necessary in order to stage a successful World Cup competition.
Singh said the response from government was that they did not have money. Neither, said Singh, was the GCB able to foot the cost of sending a delegate because of the exorbitant cost of the tickets.
Singh disclosed that the cost of a ticket to South Africa was US$13,000.
Asked if that means that Guyana might not be considered as a venue for the 2007 World Cup, Singh said not necessarily.
He contended that a country could only be at fault if their venue was not adequate.
Singh said that countries bidding to stage matches for the 2007 World Cup have until the end of 2003 before the Venue Assessment Team begin their visits to assess the suitability of prospective venues.
He said Guyana will not really miss out on what transpired in South Africa since he has taken steps to ensure that the GCB receives a copy of whatever transpired in South Africa through president of the Barbados Cricket Association Steven Alleyne.
On the question of when Guyana’s 2007 World Cup bid will get underway, Singh said that they were in the process of assembling the local organising committee and that when the committee was fully functional there would be a launch of Guyana’s 2007 World Cup bid.