Kolkata: Held up in a hotel here for more than a week, the West Indies and South Africa squads will finally be able to fly home as the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed travel plans had been firmed up after delays triggered by the ongoing conflict in the Gulf region. As per last reports, South Africa were set to depart on Wednesday night, with all members up in the air by the next 36 hours. The West Indies team was booked on flights within Thursday as well.
“Four South Africa players and five family members have boarded flights and are making their way home, with all 29 remaining members of their contingent scheduled to depart in the next 24 hours,” the ICC said in a press release on Wednesday afternoon. “Of the West Indies contingent, nine members have departed for the Caribbean, while the remaining 16 are booked on flights departing India in the next 12 hours.”
West Indies had been stuck in Kolkata ever since their Super Eights match against India on March 1. South Africa too were lodged in the same hotel since their semi-final loss to New Zealand at Eden Gardens on March 4. West Indies coach Daren Sammy had taken to social media expressing his frustration at not being given clarity on their travel plans. That was four days ago.
Since then, the growing conflict between Iran and US-Israeli forces prompted closure of airspace over several countries, with international hubs like Dubai and Abu Dhabi being hit the worst. England, however, made it out of the country through a charter flight that was reportedly arranged by the English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) while West Indies and South Africa were stuck here. That prompted allegations of bias which the ICC has categorically rejected.
“The ICC rejects any suggestion that these decisions have been driven by anything other than safety, feasibility and welfare. Suggestions otherwise across a variety of media platforms from people uninformed of the situation are as unhelpful as they are incorrect. There is no link between arrangements made in the cases of South Africa and the West Indies and those made previously for England or any other nation, which arose from separate circumstances, routing options and different travel conditions.
“The delay is the direct result of the ongoing crisis across the Gulf region, which has caused widespread and continuing disruption to international air travel, including airspace closures, missile warnings, re-routing constraints, as well as the cancellation and rescheduling of both commercial and charter flights at short notice. These are conditions entirely outside the ICC’s control, and they have made each travel solution significantly more complex and time-consuming than under normal circumstances.”
India get $2.63 million prize purse
The ICC also announced the final distribution of the tournament’s $11.25 million prize money pool, with champions India getting $2,639,423 and runners up New Zealand getting $1,422,692. Semi-finalists South Africa and England got $1,005,577 and $974,423 respectively. Among the Super Eight teams, West Indies got $538,269, Pakistan $522,692, Zimbabwe $491,538 and Sri Lanka $475,962. The base participation pay for each team was $225,000.
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