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The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has strongly denied a newspaper report that a rift between itself and sponsors Red Stripe forced it to delay the disclosure of the format and venues for this year's Red Stripe Bowl one-day cricket competition.

The report was published in the Independent newspaper of Trinidad and Tobago on Saturday.

The report also said that in the past the semi-final and final was held in Jamaica but officials of the West Indies Board were seeking to have this year's tournament played elsewhere and this has caused some discontent in Jamaica, where the major sponsor Red Stripe has its headquarters.

The report in the Trinidadian newspaper further said that other Caribbean territories have protested the mandate for the finals to be played in Jamaica at every year and this has led to the idea of playing the preliminary round at seperate venues outside of Jamaica.

However, in a West Indies Board press release yesterday, chief marketing manager of the Board, Chris Dehring, said there is no truth to the allegations.

``There is is absolutely no truth to the report whatsoever and the sponsors and ourselves enjoy a very cordial relationship.

``The venues for this years' tournament have been discussed and agreed in principle, pending the finalisation of details. These include the priority of televising as many of the games as possible and investigating the feasibility of playing the 'Final Four' as day/night matches for the first time,'' Dehring said in the relese.

``I have no idea how this could have originated. We have a contract with Red Stripe for the past three years and we have not changed the conditions which is that one of the preliminary zones must be played in Jamaica and we determine the place of the other zone on a number of factors,'' Dehring added.