The 2002 Busta International Shield finals will now be contested from 4 - 7 April, 2002 instead of the previously announced 22 - 25 March, 2002. Yesterday the WICB confirmed that the finals of the region's premier First Class 4-day competition has been postponed by two weeks.

Although no official reason was given for the postponement of the finals, CricInfo has been reliably informed that the finals - which will be televised by TWI Television - has been moved to accommodate ease of travel for the television crew.

This weekend will see the staging of the two semi finals. Guyana will play host to the Leeward Islands at Albion in Berbice, while Busta Cup winners Jamaica, will play host to Trinidad & Tobago at Sabina Park. Dethroned Busta Cup Champions Barbados, although finishing the league round of matches on similar points as Trinidad & Tobago, and even more outright wins, have been excluded from the semi final round. The Rules of the Competition clearly states "If there is an equality of points (for any position), each team's position will be decided by, in order of priority: 1. Result of their head-to-head meeting."

In 2001, Guyana took the WICB to court over their interpretation of the Rules of the Competition after Guyana, and Barbados ended the league round of matches on the same amount of points - 57.

Meanwhile, the West Indies selectors are meeting in Barbados today to select a training squad. The WICB will now utilize the two week break between the Busta International Shield semi finals and the final to hold a one-week training camp in Trinidad.

"We decided to utilise the break between the Busta Shield semis and final as best we could to prepare the team for the series against the Indians," remarked Michael Hall, chief cricket operations officer of the WICB.

The training camp will be conducted from March 21 to 28 as West Indies prepare to host India in a five Tests and five limited-overs internationals series between April and June.

Although the itinerary for the West Indies versus New Zealand has not been confirmed, Hall revealed that the series will include two Tests and five One Day Internationals.

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