PORT-OF-SPAIN (Trinidad), Feb 27: West Indies may lose the 2007 World Cup because of poor playing facilities, former West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Pat Rousseau said Wednesday.

Speaking on a BBC Caribbean Report Sports programme, Rousseau said that difficulties with travel and immigration in the region will also cause problems.

Rousseau said: “West Indies has been given host status on the condition you prove your ability that you are ready on time for the event. I don’t want us to lapse into complacency.

“If we are not well on the road in our preparation by 2005, the ICC (International Cricket Council) has the power to take it away from the West Indies. It is as simple as that.”

Rousseau declared that only Grenada has the playing facilities to host World Cup matches and that customs and immigration checks in each country could affect the logistics of hosting the event.

“We cannot have 10 or 11 customs and immigrations to clear. It is nonsense, the Jamaican business executive added.

“We have to do what Australia did, what every host does to an event like this. They put in place what they call sum-set legislation, which goes in the books for 90 days.”

Rousseau and his vice-president, Clarvis Joseph, were forced to resign last year after other executive members of the WICB refused to accept the manner in which its business was being conducted.

A major conflict was the firing of manager Ricky Skerritt by the board’s chief executive officer Gregory Shillingford.

Rousseau and Joseph were replaced by former Test fast bowler and former Barbados minister of sport Wes Hall and former Leeward Islands executive Val Banks.

Hall and his new executive have already concluded lucrative deals with BSkyB in its drive to promote and rebuild West Indies international status, while Skerritt has been reinstated as manager of the West Indies Test and one-day teams.—Reuters