The West Indies dismissed concerns on Saturday about their ability to host the 2007 cricket World Cup and promised to stage an "unforgettable" event.

West Indian and International Cricket Council officials also guaranteed that all major matches would take place in the Caribbean, although some early games could be held in the United States or Canada.

"We are confident we will be able to deliver the kind of event the world is expecting from the Caribbean," said Chris Dehring, managing director of the 2007 World Cup organising committee.

"It's a unique opportunity to put on a World Cup the world will never forget."

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said holding the event in the West Indies, which consists of 14 different nations, would be a huge challenge.

Dehring added that meticulous planning would be needed to ferry thousands of cricket fans around the region and bring the often decaying cricket grounds up to scratch.

"With 14 countries, we are undertaking something which is inherently difficult," said Speed.

"But we are not interested in taking the easy option -- if that were the case, we would go to England or Australia. There are many positive things in being able to come to these islands. We know there will be difficulties but are confident the people here can cope with that."

"I'm very confident that the West Indies Cricket Broad will be able to deliver an excellent World Cup."

"West Indies is well and truly on track to deliver the ICC World Cup in 2007, there has been a good deal of planning and a good deal of strategic thought.

CRUISE SHIPS

"It gives us the opportunity to be different from other World Cups and different from other sports. No other sport could have an event like this in the Caribbean."

Dehring said that cruise ships and charter flights were being considered to move players and supporters around the region during the tournament.

Matches would put up for tender and would be staged by the country which came up with the most attractive offer.

"It's going to be very competitive for countries to come up to scratch to bid for matches," he said.

"There's going to be a very open tender process which will allow countries to bid for matches and special events, such as the opening ceremony."

"We hope to start a tender process by the latter half of this year."

He said the challenges were enormous.

"We have around 40,000 rooms in the English-speaking Caribbean and this will probably not satisfy the demand for a single match between England and India," he said.

"We have made an absolute policy that the semi-finals and finals will be played in the countries of the WICB.

Speed added: "This is a West Indies World Cup and it will be played in the Caribbean. There's a possibility of a small number of matches in the United States or Canada, that decision will be made later this year."