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The northern stand at Sabina Park is taking shape and should meet its completion deadline as the Kingston venue looks forward to hosting the first World Cup match between the West Indies and Pakistan on March 13 next year.

KINGSTON (CMC):

The United States of America (U.S.A.) government is praising organisers of next year's Cricket World Cup (CWC) in the Caribbean for their security plans.

ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 Inc. reported in a press release Tuesday evening that the U.S. lauded the tournament's organisers for a "proactive and high-level approach to security" for next year's tournament.

The compliment was issued from the United States Embassy in Jamaica last Thursday when officials from that consulate visited CWC HQ to present a plaque to the Security Department for its involvement in Exercise Tradewinds 2006 held earlier this year in Jamaica.

Exercise Tradewinds, which evolved from training initiatives between CARICOM and the British, Canadian and U.S. governments over approximately 20 years, has been dedicated to ICC CWC 2007 for the past two years.

Training exercise

The 2006 training exercise, sponsored by the United States Southern Command for military, paramilitary and relevant personnel of key agencies in the Caribbean has been preparing the region nine host venues in particular - for the security demands of ICC CWC 2007.

Personnel from all host venues, except Guyana, participated in the training sessions and field exercises, involving more than a thousand persons and a combination of air, land and sea manoeuvres.

"Many of the scenarios simulated as part of Tradewinds were excellent preparation for Cricket World Cup, and we are pleased to have had the input of CWC and officials from the host venues," said Lt. Col. Matthew Faddis, chief of the U.S. Military Liaison Office at the U.S. Embassy.

CWC Security Director, John Collymore, noted that Exercise Tradewinds was a "good wake-up call" for some host venues and it helped in planning for CWC 2007.

"If they had not done so before, the host venues certainly realised through Exercise Tradewinds - what is needed and just how massive an undertaking this tournament will be," Collymore said.

"It aided the participating countries in assessing their operational readiness and capabilities for the wide range of security challenges which may present themselves during Cricket World Cup by using scenarios that address the most likely and most dangerous regional threats," he added.