port-of-spain (cmc)

The newly renovated Arnos Vale Stadium in St Vincent will play host to the final four of the KFC Cup next month, days before the venue is handed over to the International Cricket Council for this year's Cricket World Cup(CWC).

The two semi-final matches will take place on February 15 and 16, respectively with the final being held the following day at the facility scheduled to host CWC warm-up matches from March 5-9.

"This will be the last such event to be held at the ground before the start of the World Cup, as the stadia will be handed over to the ICC on February 19," Paul Skinner, the commercial manager of the West Indies Cricket Board, said at the official launch yesterday.

World champions Australia, along with England, Zimbabwe and Bermuda will feature in warm-up games at Arnos Vale.

The Caribbean Media Corporation will produce live coverage of both the semi-finals and final live on radio and television.

For the first time this year, the regional KFC Cup one-day tournament will be expanded to include several other Caribbean countries.

Skinner said unlike the first year of the tournament when the first round and the final four phase of the tournament was played in Barbados and Guyana, this yearÕs KFC Cup would be played in at least eight territories.

Skinner said that six teams - defending champions Guyana, runnersÕ up Barbados, the Windward Islands, Leeward Islands, Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica will once again contest this yearÕs Cup, which will consist of five rounds of matches, with each team playing each other once in a round-robin format.

The top four teams at the end of the round-robin phase, will qualify for the Final Four.

Skinner noted that although the super sub rule had been removed from this yearÕs competition, the power play would still form part of the playing conditions.