by PHILIP SPOONER

in St Kitts

THE COUNTDOWN is on. The West Indies now has 100 days to get its house in order for Cricket World Cup.

The opening ceremony is March 11, at the Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica, and already the frantic scramble has started as the nine host nations prepare for cricket's biggest showpiece.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) and other stakeholders have completed a crucial make-or-break tour to examine stadium and infrastructural readiness.

The ICC will announce today at a media briefing that all host nations have been given the green light, with just minor concerns . . . but they are convinced that all is in place and the Caribbean can deliver on its promise to stage the "best World Cup ever".

Here in St Kitts, the island is abuzz with activity, and like in Barbados, there are major roadworks projects ongoing to ensure the networks can handle to volume of traffic.

Chris Dehring, the chief executive and managing director of the event, stated that, "pound for pound", Warner Park in the heart of the capital Basseterre must be rated the best he had seen in the Caribbean, during what has been a hectic 13-day inspection swing across the region.