BRIDGETOWN, CMC

Chris Gayle and the rest of the West Indies team are well on their way to New Zealand, after visa problems grounded all - except head coach John Dyson - from travelling on Monday.

Gayle and the rest of the players have been held up in Abu Dhabi and London, but the West Indies Cricket Board gave the suggestion in a news release that there was no reason for alarm.

"The cricket operations department of the WICB explained that travel arrangements had to be reorganised, after the team decided to take advantage of the opportunity to stay on in Abu Dhabi for some intensive training," the news release said.

"This necessitated transiting Australia en route to New Zealand - for which visas were required."

Media reports indicated that Sulieman Benn, Fidel Edwards, and Denesh Ramdin, as well as media liaison Philip Spooner - all of whom were travelling to cricket's southern-most outpost from the Caribbean - were holed up in a London hotel waiting for the WICB to obtain visas for them.