[OaktreeZ]

It's my personal opinion...or is that "Hope-inion" that the Windies are in a rut BUT...they will be ready in 2007 World Cup. It would be heaven for them to win the world cup in the BIG W.I.

Yeah, they let me down....but I supporting to the core.

Ent Dead till I Dead!!!!

[guabancex]

Okay, I'm about to commit heresy. Maybe, and I'm just saying maybe, in the interest of world cricket the ICC should have given the Cup to Australia afterall. I've no reasonable expectation that either the WICB nor regional governments will get their act together in time. Given the current sponsorship debacle and the fact that the board just named Shivnarine "Team? Wha' team? Man I playing for meself."Chanderpaul captain of that 14 man travesty set to face South Africa, I'm going to take alot of convincing. :(
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5 ninjas, 1 kitten and a fifth of vodka!

[yingyang]

As a cricket non-watcher, unless its some exciting, short ODI, my little 2 cents is probably off base but I think the problem with the WI team lies - and has always laid - with the WICB. The cricket board is hell bent on trying to do first world wheeling-and-dealing while operating with a third world budget and a fourth world mentality.

Forget the question of if the team is ready for 2007. They never are. The region is another story altogether. In G'da I "hear" we are going to have our stadium rebuilt, as well as all the destroyed hotels. We are going to have our crappy infrastructure miraculously renovated, hundreds of new hotel rooms will become available, people will have Jobs (with capital J).

Oh did I mention this is all going to be done well in time for 2007? Never mind that it is 1/4 way thru 2005 already and most of us still under tarpaulin. Never mind that at least two of the largest hotels have only just begun their demolition in order to reconstruct from the ground up. Never mi.... ahh... just never mind.

[OaktreeZ]

These "Political" decisions whether it be dealing with Cricket or a country..never seem to make sense to the general public. WHERE DO THESE IDIOTS COME FROM...AND WHO LETS THEM SPEAK, FUTHER MORE GIVE THEM A MIC OR WRITE DOWN WHAT THEY SAY.

I am sorry to hear that kind of sh#t talk. Being the Optimist, it may be bent on motivating the public into thinking positively....you know a "reach for the skies" speech...."Forward Ever"......"on the third day the temple will be rebuilt" etc etc etc

I still support the team. The game of cricket has grown around us. I can only give the analogy of athletics....there are MANY talented West Indian athletes who can compete maybe even dominate an event. But they wake up in the moning train...go to work...get home on an evening...train.... RAW TALENT will on only take you that far. Then you need to be a professional to realise world class level performance. Sorry guys.

[guabancex]

Let me just preface by saying that I want the 2007 cup to come to the Caribbean. I’m all for it. I want to be up close and personal to cheer/boo our boys. I want to be able to tell Muralitharan to his face, that I don’t care what the biomechanics guys say, he’s a blinking chucker; and for that matter, so is Harbhajan. Don’t quite know yet how I’m going to score the tickets nor the requisite posse needed for proper cricket appreciation. (Test matches are, let’s face it, long; and it behoves a good cricket fan to know how to amuse his/herself in between sixes and wickets.) But I figure this would be motivation enough to con a half dozen or so unsuspecting warm bodies into thinking I’m a fun kind of gal to hang with, if only for a couple of weeks.

So for the sake of discussion say that this "If you build it, they will come" crap works. Let's just hypothesize that we actually manage to revamp our brand new US$18 million Beausejour Cricket Stadium (laugh, snort, choke, MEDIC), and our entire road network, and expand the tourism plant how many ever fold the technocrats say it must be. Let's say all of this. And all the lovely British touristas come and don’t get jacked by terrorists because we don’t know a damned thing about securing an international event. Then what? What happens to the expensive infrastructure afterwards? Who foots the bill? Can we say 1976, the Montreal Olympics?
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5 ninjas, 1 kitten and a fifth of vodka!

[OaktreeZ]

WOW...you drew so many parallels there it ent funny. Lets see if i can confuse the unsuspecting just a tad more.

One at a time...if you going to Boo the Windies...DON"T COME.

About the rebuilding the stadium...what ever was done however "Con-artist-ish" was approved by the World Cricket Board Committee, they made the call. WE ALREADY HAVE THE WORLD CUP 2007.

If we didn;t take advantage of the 911 scares to market the caribbean for what it is....."The premier tourist destination"....and we didn;t do it again after the "Tsunmi Devastation"....then we have another more profound chance. So say the politicians felt moraliy obligated to NOT take advantage of others misfortunes....Well the caribbean has been on showcase since the announcement....so its up to us now

Now to eat my Vomit....lol. London has been spending millions, to prepare and organise and sensitise for their BID...just the BID...for 2012 Olympics. So who say trying to push tings in place in 1.7 years is impossible. Thats the caribbean way...laid back..."dey like us man". "What you say, Montrel Olympics 1976?".....does that have something to do with Ben Johnson?

[guabancex]

Actually, I made no parallels whatsoever. I merely point to the Montreal Games as an object lesson on how governments, even 1st world governments with comparatively deep pockets, can grossly over-estimate the potential of major sporting events vis-à-vis the outlay necessitated in order to host said events.

Irrespective of whether the ICC was conned by regional governments or not, any indictments for failure or kudos for success will rest on Caribbean shoulders. It’s our reputations and financial futures on the block; and while I applaud the initiative to move the Caribbean onto centre stage, I cringe at the cavalier manner in which the entire affair is being handled.
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5 ninjas, 1 kitten and a fifth of vodka!

[OaktreeZ]

Cavalier...may be the wrong word...I think the best way to describe the method of operation in organising the World Cup is "Bookie". And its all well and good to say that stuff is going on behind the scenes. Even if I am gullible enough to believe that crap. The main issue with this is the publics acceptance, support and preparation for the event. And I havn;t seen shit going on....since the Bidding process.

[yingyang]

Cringing? Cavalier? Confused? Prepare to add embarassed to your list. Read this.

[guabancex]

Well this was bound to happen. I just read this in the Advocate.

South Africa to play backup to West Indies in 2007
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5 ninjas, 1 kitten and a fifth of vodka!

[OaktreeZ]

careful how you read into these stories....its a shitty cup of coffee to drink but our media people seem to have developed a sensationalisation bug in the pen fingures. I may be wrong but the article writer may have very well been comparing apples to oranges...in other words the cost to the teritory was 4 million and the cost to the entire event 100 million...hey who knows...just playing devils advocate here.

The backup plan of SA may very well be a routine requirement of preparation for all big events, not necessarily implying that the Caribbean isn;t ready. Its a just in case provision which may be a requirement.

For St. Lucia's end I was reading a VOICE of March 12 where our Cricket World Cup Management Team of 6 (So far...9 positions proposed) is made up of 5 women....so our end of things may actually get done successfully. "

"SORRY, I is a man too, but fella's does talk too much sh@t. Let de women run it".