The West Indies Cricket Board's (WICB) planned expansion for this year's Red Stripe Bowl competition will not go ahead due mainly to financial constraints. The WICB is on record as wanting to expand the competition to include 20 teams, up from the 10 teams which have participated over the years.

The WICB's Chief Cricket Operations Officer, Michael Hall, said: "Neither Canada nor the United States are able to participate for financial reasons. They are both suffering financial constraints after their participation in the ICC tournament in Canada earlier this year."

Eight teams will compete in this year's Red Stripe Bowl competition which begins on 2 October, and will be contested in two zones - one in Jamaica and the other in Guyana.

WICB's CEO, Gregory Shillingford, said in an interview: "We had decided after last year's Red Stripe Bowl that we would have embarked upon a 20-team competition. When reviewing the concept paper for the competition, we realised it was quite ambitious given the circumstances of the WICB. At our last annual general meeting, we reported a loss of about five million US dollars for 2000 and the results of this year did not reveal a profit."

Shillingford explained that the WICB still hope to have a 20-team competition next year that will include all 14 islands that fall under the umbrella of the WICB, the Americas, not only Canada, United States, Bermuda and Cayman Islands but also Argentina, along with one or two English county sides and an international team.

Zone "A" which includes Jamaica, Northern Windwards, Trinidad and Tobago and Leewards XI will be contested in Jamaica, while Zone "B" which includes Antigua, Barbados, Guyana and Southern Windwards will be contested in Guyana.

The Red Stripe Bowl competition begins on 2 October, with the semi finals on 11 and 12 October, and the finals scheduled for 14 October at the Kaiser Sports Club.

The Windward Islands are the 2000 Red Stripe Bowl champions.

© CricInfo Ltd.