CRICKET WORLD CUP DIARY FROM OUR MAN IN BARBADOS 11 March

Trelawny Stadium Photo Copyright ICCSunday 11th March 2007

Clarence Hiles reports from the Caribbean...

The great day has finally arrived and while all the media focus will hone in to the new Trelawney multi purpose stadium in Jamaica for the grand opening, most of the players will quickly want to jet off tomorrow to their first round destination and get down to the serious business of trying to win Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007.

Everyone will see that the Caribbean is not 100% ready but it is as ready as it will ever be, and time will tell whether all the hype that has preceded the tournament will match the delivery for the biggest event ever to be staged in the region.

As a tournament it is a logistics nightmare given the plethora of venues, flights, hotels and countries involved, but the hosting has been undertaken with great enthusiasm by a collection of diverse nations bound only by West Indies cricket, an amazing achievement in its own right.

The Ireland team is in Montego Bay, while most of their supporters are in Ocho Rios soaking up the sun, the rum and Red Stripe beer, but all will be united against Zimbabwe at Sabina Park on Thursday for the first match. It is a match they have a serious chance of winning, an opinion shared by genial New Zealand manager Lindsay Crocker in whose company I watched the final warm-up game in Barbados between the Kiwis and Sri Lanka. As Lindsay confirmed;

"There's going to one major upset and it wouldn't surprise us if Ireland do it first time out against Zimbabwe. We have been watching the Ireland team's performances carefully and of course we know the Zimbabweans. There's not a lot between the two teams and it will all come down to who wants to win most."

Lindsay is an engaging personality and a real genuine down-to-earth character devoid of the bragging and drum-beating that has been coming out of most of the leading camps. Having been beaten by Bangladesh a few days earlier the talented Kiwis came down to earth after their fine successes over Australia, but Lindsay doesn't see that as a total negative;

"We didn't play as well as we can and they played better than we would have expected. The gap has narrowed between the associate nations and the test teams in the last few years and it showed in that result. There are no guarantees and I like the existing format as it is fair for everyone."

New Zealand had mixed experiences on the field in Barbados but they won't be back on island until the final and don't be surprised if they'll be facing Sri Lanka once again in the showpiece. These are two outstanding teams. In the meantime Lindsay will be looking around Trelawney for his old pals Big Roy, Alfie and Robin to start the event off in style!

We all know what that means!

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