The disclosure was made by West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Pat Rousseau in an interview aired on Voice of Barbados yesterday.

International cricket matches have always been affected by GuyanaÕs fickle climate and Rousseau said the covers, which will protect the entire ground, should minimise the loss of playing time whenever there was rain.

The WICB boss said the exercise was more complex and expensive than it sounded.

'You cannot roll these (covers) up and lift them off,' he told interviewer Annette Beckett.

'They are installed and are rolled away mechanically. You pull them out and when you want to take them back in you press a button and they fold away into the receptacles that hold them.'

The Birmingham ground in England also has full ground covers.

Rousseau also revealed that each of the regionÕs Test-playing grounds would be equipped with two 'water-hogs' from December. Each mechanical water-hog will be able to suck up water.

With the annual first-class competition just weeks away, Rousseau said the board had not yet secured a sponsor following a decision by Jamaican company Desnoes & Geddes to switch to the One-Day competition.

The four-day tournament was extended last season to include home and away matches, but Rousseau said the format was likely to be reviewed.

The minimum number of matches per team may be reduced to seven, he said.

A new ticketing system which allowed spectators to call a toll-free number to buy a ticket for any ground in the West Indies was now in operation, Rousseau said.

Details of the new system were to be disclosed at a WICB/Barbados Cricket Association Press briefing at the Barbados Hilton today, but NATIONSPORT was informed yesterday that the briefing was 'cancelled'.

Canada and Bermuda have been invited to participate in the Nortel Youth Championship for the next two years. They will play for no points, and the quality of their players will be assessed; if they are 'good enough' they will become a permanent fixture in the tournament.