Dehring

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (CMC):

CRICKET WORLD Cup's managing director, Chris Dehring, anticipates the security system put in place for next month's Cricket World Cup will be one of the positive lasting legacies of the mega event.

Speaking at a press briefing after the 13th meeting of the Prime Ministerial Subcommittee on Cricket, Dehring said that the networking of the security system had been tremendous.

"We have an incredible regional security architecture which for the first time in the region now exists, so the World Cup has really proven to be a unifying force, probably like never before, probably not since West Indies cricket," Dehring said.

He highlighted what he considered to be the standout features in the security arrangement, pointing to intelligence sharing among the territories, advanced passenger information, and the scrubbing of names against Interpol and other major watch lists.

"This will create a safe and secure region that may be safer than it ever was before and we are very excited about that," Dehring said.

Dehring told reporters that although some aspects of the Cricket World Cup preparation were behind schedule, other aspects were ahead of schedule and gave thumbs up to the overall readiness of the region for the event.

This view was also shared by West Indies Cricket Board president, Ken Gordon.

"We are as ready as any organising structure could be to host an event of this magnitude," Gordon noted.

Gordon said that while it was a given there would be some problems, as was norm with such events, he was confident the management structure was in place to deal with any eventualities.