NEW VENUE FOR ICC WARM UP CRICKET MATCHES COMING ON MONDAY

THE CABINET OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO met on Friday  to confirm the change from the Brian Lara Stadium as a warm-up venue for the 2007 International Cricket Council World Cup (CWC).

Don Lockerbie, the venue development director for the tournament, SAID yesterday that the cabinet would today examine the matter thoroughly to determine the new venue.

He did not say whether it would be Guaracara Park or the ground at the University of West Indies St Augustine Campus, but indicated the decision would be announced on Monday.

The Brian Lara Stadium was dropped from the list of venues last month as the 15 000-seat ground in southern Trinidad could not be finished in time for the warm-ups to be played March 5 to 9, involving Ireland, Pakistan, South Africa and Canada.

"We will name the site we are moving to on Monday. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago will still play its warm-up matches in a sizeable stadium that will be customised just for the World Cup.

"The Brian Lara Stadium is our casualty and obviously we would have liked to go through the whole of the World Cup without any casualties," Lockerbie said.

"We stood by it as long as we could, but we made the decision that we didn't feel it would be right for the Brian Lara Stadium to be a host.

"It wasn't a matter of not having some kind of a stadium there, in fact the pitch and field are ready to go and we could certainly put the grandstands around it. We just felt it would be too much of a construction zone because of the other things being built there."

Trinidad will also host Group first-round matches from March 15 to 25 involving India, Bermuda, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at the historic Queen's Park Oval in Port-of-Spain.