The directors of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), gave a Master Plan which outlined how the WICB will manage the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies their approval over the weekend.

President of the WICB, Rev. Wes Hall, indicated that the directors' approval of the Master Plan now makes the way clear for the regional cricket authority to embark on the work that is needed to make the event very successful.

"This is greatest event that these our countries together have ever attempted to host and, therefore, we will need to do a lot of negotiations and find people with business acumen and continue to work with governments and territorial boards to make the 2007 World Cup a success," Rev. Hall told a news conference on Monday.

"Chris Dehring, managing director of 2007 Windies World Cup, has spent a considerable amount of time in close contact with all event managers and people who have staged very large events like the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup, as well as the previous cricket World Cups to gather all the information we will need to be able to manage this event successfully."

Meanwhile, West Indies will be encamped from January 14 through to their departure on January 28 next year for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Rev. Hall indicated that the camp that will focus on fitness and fielding in the first week and cricket strategy and tactics for the remaining days. The WICB had hoped to stage the camp in South Africa, but were not able to do so.

"The South African authorities have decided that none of the teams will be able to play there in the weeks prior to the World Cup," Rev. Hall said.

"As a consequence, we are looking for West Indian islands that would give us the kind of pitches that our team may encounter in South Africa, and it's too expensive to go to Perth in Australia, but we are looking at Anguilla and/or Antigua. We are hoping to allow our team to arrive in South Africa as early as possible to get acclimatised."

West Indies face South Africa in the opening match of the 2003 World Cup on February 9 at Newlands and Rev. Hall expects the side will greatly benefit from a number of specialised coaching sessions with former West Indies players during the camp.

The West Indies were World Cup champion in 1975 and 1979, and reached the final in 1983 before being beaten by India.

© CricInfo Ltd.