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Download PDF After a colourful but low-key ceremony officially opened the ninth ICC Cricket World Cup, the tournament proper gets underway with hosts West Indies and Pakistan, two of the most inconsistent sides in international cricket, facing in the first match at the Sabina Park today.
Bangladesh Television will telecast the match live from 8:30pm Bangladesh time.
Former West Indian great Garfield Sobers formally declared the competition open early Monday Bangladesh time.
Nine independent states from the West Indies will host 51 games involving 16 teams, including defending champions Australia.
The competition will last for 47 days leading up to the final on April 28 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.
Over 2,000 singers, dancers and performers, including several of the Caribbean’s top reggae and dancehall performers, participated in the opening at the new stadium close to Montego Bay on the northern coast of Jamaica.
Surprisingly only just over half of the Trelawny Stadium was opened to spectators with one of the stands, behind the stage, left empty but those inside enjoyed a celebration of Caribbean culture.
Against a red, gold and green backdrop, reggae singers Jimmy Cliff and Gregory Isaacs, as well as contemporary performers Sean Paul and Shaggy, entertained the crowd of around 10,000 and the squads of the competing nations.
Chris Dehring, CEO of the event, said fans at the World Cup would see “the world’s best cricketers competing against the backdrop of the most blessed place on earth”.
Brian Lara’s West Indians had been showing signs of improvement in recent months but Friday’s nine-wicket warm-up defeat to India was a reminder that they are a team that can easily press the self-destruct button.
Lara was one of only three batsmen to make double figures as his team were skittled out for just 85 and the skipper conceded his team had a “chronic” tendency towards batting collapses.
The good news for Lara is that, prior to the debacle against India, two of his frontline batsmen — Jamaicans Marlon Samuels and Chris Gayle — both produced confident knocks against Kenya — Samuels retiring after reaching his century.
Group D opponents Pakistan were roundly beaten in both a Test and one-day series in South Africa but then cruised to a seven-wicket win over those same opponents in their warm-up on Friday.
Pakistan’s preparations suffered a blow with the late withdrawal of fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif through injury, but replacements Mohammad Sami and Yasir Arafat have slotted in well.
Pakistan beat the West Indies in a home series in late 2006 but captain Inzamamul Haq said it would be a tougher challenge in the Caribbean.
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