ECB to tackle West Indies ticket levy

Sunday, February 15, 2004

LONDON, England: England's cricket authorities are to raise the issue of the West Indies ticket levy face to face with their Caribbean counterparts this weekend.

According to a report in Britain's Daily Telegraph, Tim Lamb, chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has had the levy put on the agenda of the International Cricket Council management meeting in Bangladesh, which started in Dhaka Saturday.

Lamb will reflect the outrage felt in England over the discriminatory policy of the West Indies Board that has forced Europeans to pay an additional US$300-plus for five-day Test passes and about US$55 for one-dayers. A five-day pass for the best seats at the Barbados Test, for instance, will cost US$650.

An ECB spokesman said: "We're very keen to make sure it doesn't happen again. We think the levy is unfair and we feel sorry for the England fans who have had to pay those prices."

Website www.wishame.org/ urges travelling supporters to make protests against the West Indies Board.

Tourists have taken up most of the 45 per cent of capacity allocated for the third and fourth Tests at Barbados and Antigua, but high prices for Jamaica and Trinidad next month - and the seven-match one-day series - will probably lead to a reduced take-up.

One of the major travel operators said: "The West Indies have to raise money, but the way it has been done is upsetting for clients. It appears to be pure greed."

The Barbados Prime Minister, Owen Arthur, recently expressed his dislike for the way the levy had been imposed, and Tony Cozier, the doyen of West Indian cricket writers, deplored the West Indies Board's attitude.

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