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West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Rev. Wes Hall has taken on the task of easing players' fears over safety after yesterday sanctioning the forthcoming tour of Sri Lanka from November 1 to December 20.

He has scheduled a meeting with the team during the pre-tour training camp in Kingston, Jamaica, next Monday and safety is one of the items on the agenda, the WICB reported on its web site.

As a one-time politician now pastor, Hall is well placed to assuage concerns publicly expressed by captain Carl Hooper and one or two other players over the possible effects of the hostilities in nearby Afghanistan and the Sri Lankan parliamentary elections December 5.

The go-ahead for the tour was taken after Hall and WICB chief executive Gregory Shillingford discussed the issue with Sri Lanka board officials during an International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The WICB said in a media release that Vijaya Malalasekera, chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL), had assured Hall that the BCCL and the people of Sri Lanka will undertake measures to guarantee the safety and comfort of the West Indies cricket team during the tour. The team leaves for Colombo October 31. It will play three Tests, two first-class matches and a triangular series of One- Day Internationals also involving Zimbabwe.

According to the WICB statement, Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) president Peter Chingoka assured Hall he was satisfied with the arrangements in place for his team's safety and that Zimbabwe would participate in the triangular series.

Team manager Ricky Skerritt said yesterday he had already briefed the players on his exploratory trip to Sri Lanka in August.

The president and the CEO have now basically confirmed the findings from my report, having visited, following their meetings with Sri Lankan officials [at the ICC meeting], he told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

He said Hall had telephoned from Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and had an extensive conversation with team management at the camp in Kingston.

We're pretty confident that all necessary arrangements are in place in Sri Lanka, he added.

Hooper told reporters Sunday he was concerned because of the possible repercussions in Sri Lanka from the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington and the present United States attacks on Afghanistan.

Ramnaresh Sarwan said it was quite a worry.

I'm a bit scared going there, knowing what's happening between the United States and Afghanistan, Sarwan said after Guyana's victory over Barbados in Sunday's Red Stripe Bowl final.

Sri Lankan police have advised the cricket board they will be unable to provide security for the matches in the three days before and three days after the election.

We are rescheduling some matches on the itinerary to accommodate the police request, said Kushil Gunasekera, head of the committee organising the tour.

The West Indies are carded to play the third Test and the second match of the triangular series in the central city of Kandy on the relevant dates.

During the 1994 parliamentary election, the second Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Colombo was cancelled, reducing the series to two Tests.

In 1996, Australia and the West Indies declined to play their scheduled matches in the World Cup in Colombo following an explosion in the capital three weeks earlier, set off by a suicide bomber of the separatist Tamil Tigers group, that killed 80 and injured more than 1000.

© The Barbados Nation