Politicians, government officials flay World Cup

St John's, Antigua, Apr 5 (UNI) Though the cricket World Cup is half way through, anger and criticism is gradually growing against its conduct.

The latest to join the bandwagon is Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados, Ms Mia Mottley, who has criticised the way the tournament had been robbed of its Caribbean flavour.

She flayed the West Indies Cricket Board, saying that the local interests had been ignored and that action was needed to bring the West Indian feeling to the World Cup.

''This is unacceptable,'' she said. ''The WICB must answer for what is happening at the World Cup and why it does not feel like it is our event.'' Shaken by the turn of events, the local organising committee in Barbados -- which hosts one set of Super Eight league games starting April 11 -- has announced that restrictions would be eased at the Kensington Oval.

LOC chief Stephen Alleyne said that matches in Barbados would be closer to traditional ''Calypso cricket'' than had been the case so far.

Music and food would flow more freely and people bringing musical instruments could take clearance at the gate on the day of the game.

Alleyne admitted that things had not gone well elsewhere in the West Indies. And added that some matches at the Oval were not sold out, mainly because sponsors had not taken up their allocations, and that spare tickets would be made available free of charge to local children.

''We need to ensure that the environment is such that everybody in there, whether Barbadian, West Indian or from further afield, can get the chance to experience what it is like to be at a Caribbean Test match,'' he said.

''One of the things we are going to work to achieve is the bringing of musical instruments in -- we are going to simplify that.

We're looking at how you can bring things like foodstuff and so on into the Oval (while) making sure there's clarity around those things.'' UNI HSB PDS RN2102