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Montego Bay - Three decades later, the original World Cup champions have welcomed cricket's limited-overs showpiece to the West Indies. Sir Garfield Sobers, the great West Indies all-rounder, declared the ninth World Cup open on Sunday in a ceremony involving a cast of 2 000 and featuring an unabashed Caribbean theme.
"This is a moment of West Indian achievement. This moment is here, this moment is now," Cricket World Cup 2007 managing director Chris Dehring said. "The world's best cricketers in the most beautiful place on earth."
The stadium at Trelawny, built for last week's warm-up matches and the opening ceremony, was at full capacity when the 16 teams paraded onto the ground.
The Bermudans arrived in shorts - Bermudas of course - following defending champion Australia and Bangladesh and just in front of Canada, one of the other six associate member teams in the tournament.
West Indies captain Brian Lara read the oath on behalf of the players. He will be at Sabina Park on Tuesday hoping to start fulfilling expectations in the opening match against Pakistan.
New dimension in cricket performance
The 12 teams in Groups A, B and C leave Jamaica on Monday for the scattered venues, with Zimbabwe and Ireland staying for Group D matches.
Organisers in the nine host countries spent more than spent $400m and more than four years on facilities for the tournament.
"We promise a new dimension in cricket performance and entertainment," World Cup 2007 board member Valentine Banks said. "This is the most ambitious event ever undertaken by the collective Caribbean."
Local expectations shift from builders to budding champions this week, with Lara firmly in the hot seat.
Sir Viv Richards, a member of the winning teams in '75 and '79 and captain in the next two campaigns, thinks the timing is perfect for the West Indies to re-emerge - with Lara at the helm.
"He started his career when our domination was starting to come to an end and has been there, through thick and thin, ever since," Richards wrote in a newspaper column on Sunday. "Now this is his stage. What a way to bring his career to a climax than to emulate our great teams in winning the World Cup."
To do that, Lara's line-up will likely have to overcome the team that succeeded the West Indies as the dominant force in cricket.
'A huge amount of respect for Australia'
Ricky Ponting told a news conference on Sunday that despite slipping to No 2 in the rankings last month, his Australian squad should still be the favourite to defend the title.
That would make Australia the first country to capture three consecutive World Cups - something the West Indies missed by one match when it lost the 1983 final to India.
Most pundits are predicting it is too close to call, particularly in the wake of Australia's recent losses to England and New Zealand - that gave South Africa the No 1 ranking.
"We have a huge amount of respect for Australia," said SA captain Graeme Smith. But, "after the rankings had shifted, this was always going to be a hugely intensive and competitive game".
New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming expected competition to be so tight that no team would repeat Australia's undefeated run of 11 wins in the 2003 edition.
While the World Cup officially started on Sunday, last-minute work continued on venues across the Caribbean in the hours leading up to the first matches.
Venue development director Don Lockerbie conceded that several stadiums were not 100% complete, but said most of the unfinished work was cosmetic.
"I will say we are ready," he said. "I will say we can put on a fabulous World Cup in these venues."
Trinidad organisers were adamant that a series of problems, including a collapsing sightscreen, complaints about practice pitches and the forced evacuation of a team hotel because of a gas leak, would be distant memories when Group matches started.
"Glitches are always expected in an event of this magnitude," Anand Daniel said. "We will not always have smooth sailing, but we have contingency plans in place."
"This is a moment of West Indian achievement. This moment is here, this moment is now," Cricket World Cup 2007 managing director Chris Dehring said. "The world's best cricketers in the most beautiful place on earth."
The stadium at Trelawny, built for last week's warm-up matches and the opening ceremony, was at full capacity when the 16 teams paraded onto the ground.
The Bermudans arrived in shorts - Bermudas of course - following defending champion Australia and Bangladesh and just in front of Canada, one of the other six associate member teams in the tournament.
West Indies captain Brian Lara read the oath on behalf of the players. He will be at Sabina Park on Tuesday hoping to start fulfilling expectations in the opening match against Pakistan.
New dimension in cricket performance
The 12 teams in Groups A, B and C leave Jamaica on Monday for the scattered venues, with Zimbabwe and Ireland staying for Group D matches.
Organisers in the nine host countries spent more than spent $400m and more than four years on facilities for the tournament.
"We promise a new dimension in cricket performance and entertainment," World Cup 2007 board member Valentine Banks said. "This is the most ambitious event ever undertaken by the collective Caribbean."
Local expectations shift from builders to budding champions this week, with Lara firmly in the hot seat.
Sir Viv Richards, a member of the winning teams in '75 and '79 and captain in the next two campaigns, thinks the timing is perfect for the West Indies to re-emerge - with Lara at the helm.
"He started his career when our domination was starting to come to an end and has been there, through thick and thin, ever since," Richards wrote in a newspaper column on Sunday. "Now this is his stage. What a way to bring his career to a climax than to emulate our great teams in winning the World Cup."
To do that, Lara's line-up will likely have to overcome the team that succeeded the West Indies as the dominant force in cricket.
'A huge amount of respect for Australia'
Ricky Ponting told a news conference on Sunday that despite slipping to No 2 in the rankings last month, his Australian squad should still be the favourite to defend the title.
That would make Australia the first country to capture three consecutive World Cups - something the West Indies missed by one match when it lost the 1983 final to India.
Most pundits are predicting it is too close to call, particularly in the wake of Australia's recent losses to England and New Zealand - that gave South Africa the No 1 ranking.
"We have a huge amount of respect for Australia," said SA captain Graeme Smith. But, "after the rankings had shifted, this was always going to be a hugely intensive and competitive game".
New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming expected competition to be so tight that no team would repeat Australia's undefeated run of 11 wins in the 2003 edition.
While the World Cup officially started on Sunday, last-minute work continued on venues across the Caribbean in the hours leading up to the first matches.
Venue development director Don Lockerbie conceded that several stadiums were not 100% complete, but said most of the unfinished work was cosmetic.
"I will say we are ready," he said. "I will say we can put on a fabulous World Cup in these venues."
Trinidad organisers were adamant that a series of problems, including a collapsing sightscreen, complaints about practice pitches and the forced evacuation of a team hotel because of a gas leak, would be distant memories when Group matches started.
"Glitches are always expected in an event of this magnitude," Anand Daniel said. "We will not always have smooth sailing, but we have contingency plans in place."
I am giddy with excitement! Cant wait to see what the Caribbean holds. I think they will be good hosts, at least Herschelle Gibbs and crew will enjoy Jamaica
