Thursday, November 9, 2006

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AFP): An India-financed stadium being built in Guyana will avert an International Cricket Council (ICC) ban on Test cricket in the South American country, President, Bharrat Jagdeo, said Wednesday.

"It was just a matter of time before the ICC stopped sending matches to Guyana, because there were already security requirements and a number of venue related requirements that were not met," he said at a dedication ceremony.

Authorities intend to replace Bourda Cricket Ground here in Guyana's capital with a 15,000-seat stadium being built at Providence Village, about 11 miles south.

Jagdeo said the new stadium would guarantee the playing of Test cricket in Guyana for the next 75 years, the life-span of the new facility which is the first of its kind in the former British colony.

"We were very worried... at one time that Test cricket may not come to Guyana anymore because of the absence of a good facility," the Guyanese leader told the gathering.

Among those on hand was India's Vice President, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who ends a three-day visit to Guyana on Thursday.

The stadium, financed with a US six million-dollar grant and a concessionary line of credit of US 19 million dollars from the Indian government, is expected to be finished in time for the start of Cricket World Cup games in March 2007.

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