The man who built a stage fit for a world final

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Mar 8 (Reuters) One man's focus, dedication and sheer determination to do his job will ensure that the Cricket World Cup final will be played in a jewel of a stadium and not a half-finished building site come April 28.

Miles Weekes is the facilities development officer for the Kensington Oval which means it will be largely thanks to him that a .5 million re-build of the stadium is completed in time for the final.

With 27,500 spectators expected to cram into the famous ground for cricket's biggest day's play in four years, Weekes knew that the age-old Caribbean line -- 'don't worry, man, it'll be ready tomorrow' -- was not going to cut it.

For the past two years, he has been overseeing every concrete pillar laid, every screw turned and every gutter secured as the grand old lady of West Indies cricket was given her very, very expensive 21st century facelift.

''It has,'' as this 53-year-old London-educated Barbadian says with characteristic understatement, ''been particularly challenging.

''We've simply broken it down into small targets, we've never tried to look at the end picture. We've just concentrated on doing 100 metres at a time and finished up doing the marathon.'' In two weeks or so, the last of the scaffolding will be removed and the flagship stadium of the Caribbean will finally be ready to greet her audience.

NON-STOP The construction work has been carrying on since Aug. 1 2005 virtually non-stop. ''It's been a six-day-a-week job for me since we started planning in 2004 and for the last six months it's been seven days a week,'' said Weekes, who is not related to West Indies great Everton Weekes.

Anyone visiting the Oval on the outskirts of bustling Bridgetown for the first time in three years could be excused for driving past thinking they had mistaken the familiar 135-year-old stadium for some kind of hi-tech lunar launch-pad.

All but two of the former stands were demolished, four commercial properties were bought and 20 nearby houses were relocated to make room for the rebuild which has more than doubled the previous capacity of around 12,500.

''It's not been straightforward at all. Securing adequate resources to do the work has been the problem,'' said Weekes.

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