The International Cricket Council’s (ICC) board of directors has announced that the eight venues selected as host sites for the Cricket World Cup (CWC) in 2007 have qualified for a notice to proceed.

The eight venues – in Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago – had to produce detailed stadium designs, construction schedules and operational plans for hosting the event before a notice to proceed could be issued by the ICC board.

This is particularly good news for Grenada, which had met all of the notice requirements before Hurricane Ivan struck. Having shown what the board described as ‘strong commitment to restoration within the required time frame’, Grenada was granted a conditional notice to proceed, pending further damage assessments and certain plan adjustments.

The board also said it was pleased that each venue had made a clear transition from Bid Committee, following the Award of Matches back in early July, to Local Organising Committee (LOC).

The ICC Cricket World Cup is believed to be the third largest sporting event in the world.

Christ Dehring, CEO of the ICC, said; “We have seen commitment and a great deal of progress from all the countries.”

Venue development director, Donald Lockerbie, praised the LOC’s and their stadium design teams. He added: “The LOC’s have some of the best architects in the region and some of the top sports architects in the world with the vital input of the knowledge of the game from cricket experts in each host country.” Details: www.icc-cricket.com