Support Windies team, says players' chief by AFP

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Event:

ICC World Cup 2006/07

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DateLine: 31st March 2007

 

West Indies players union chief Dinanath Ramnarine on Saturday joined skipper Brian Lara in appealing for Caribbean fans to get behind their team.

 

World Cup matches have been played out in front of a series of barely half-full stadiums with thousands of locals snubbing the tournament claiming they have been priced out of the grounds.

 

"The West Indies have some key matches coming up in Guyana, Grenada and Barbados and I would like to see a full house at all those games as we had in Jamaica," said West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) president Ramnarine, a former Test player.

 

"The crowd will be a vital 12th man for our team. The kind of support for which West Indians fans are renowned can be a huge motivating factor and it was in evidence for the games against Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Ireland (in Kingston).

 

"It's time for us to truly rally around the West Indies. They need us and we want them to win this World Cup at home."

 

The West Indies, having lost both their Super Eights matches so far to Australia and New Zealand, face elimination from the World Cup if they lose to Sri Lanka at Providence here on Sunday.

 

Officials here claim that 12,000 of the 14,000 seats in the Guyana National Stadium have been sold for Sunday's match.

 

But at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, which holds 19,000 people, only 9,000 turned up to see the West Indies lose to Australia on Tuesday.

 

"It was very disappointing," said Lara. "You sit back and you think at least every single game the West Indies play is going to be a full house.

 

"I don't know what to put my finger on as the problem but again we've just got to focus on the cricket and hopefully the people will come out."

 

Cricket World Cup commercial director Stephen Price said it was too soon to say why the Antigua public hadn't turned up but he rejected suggestions that with tickets for the Windies-Australia clash ranging from 25 US dollars to 100 US dollars, that local fans were priced out of the market.

 

"I really disagree with that. This was a collaborative process across the region and all the local organising committees had an input.

 

"Tickets are definitely not out of reach. There are plenty of lower category seats available."

(Article: Copyright © 2007 AFP)