GORDON WILLIAMS, Freelance Writer

WALSH

NEW YORK:

Jamaica's Cricket World Cup (CWC) juggernaut swept into the United States on Friday, eager to take a promotional bite out of the Big Apple by assuring the city's Jamaican residents, the largest such population outside the island, that they are welcome to come home for the event next year.

The heavy hitters in Jamaica's bid to host a successful CWC, including the Local Organising Committee's Executive Director Robert Bryan and former West Indies great Courtney Walsh, led a contingent of representatives from the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), business promotional arm JAMPRO and national airline Air Jamaica to the consulate general of Jamaica's office in midtown Manhattan.

There they were joined by Consul General Dr. Basil K. Bryan to launch the North American promotion leg for next year's event. According to them, the choice to start the tour in New York was as simple as bat up and catch.

"New York happens to be the place where you have the largest concentration of Caribbean folk anywhere outside the Caribbean," said Dr. Bryan.

"It's a natural synergy," added Pauline Nelson, public relations officer for Jamaica LOC.

MAMMOTH TEST

Yet despite efforts to assure those present that CWC would indeed become an historical event to make Jamaica proud, and spin off massive revenue for the country, the organisers admitted that the task to put on a successful show had become a mammoth test.

With an estimated audience of 2.5 billion expected to view CWC from around the world, the pressure is mounting, less than six months to the opening ceremony at the Trelawny multipurpose stadium.

"This event is a real challenge for the Caribbean," said Bryan, " ... a hell of a learning curve."

The LOC head said that the trip to the U.S. was planned to ignite interest in CWC, especially among Jamaicans living in the country, "to get North America and the (Jamaican) diaspora excited about this event."

He assured the public that both stadiums in Jamaica - the Trelawny complex and Sabina Park in Kingston - would be ready in time for the March 2007 start of CWC activities and that sufficient accommodations would be available.

For those foreign to the sport itself, activities in Jamaica, which will host preliminary games and one of two CWC semi-finals, would make those visitors feel welcome as well.

"It's not just the cricket, but it is the entertainment and excitement that will take place around the cricket," Bryan said.

" ... If you miss this party you will have missed one of the very special events of 2007 and for a long time to come," he added.

AFTERTHOUGHT

But not all Jamaicans in New York were convinced that their input would be embraced. At least two people present at Friday's press briefing accused CWC organisers of merely "passing through" New York months earlier without making a solid effort to establish a presence here.

One radio personality accused CWC organisers of treating Jamaicans in New York as "an afterthought."

But the touring group was ready to soothe flustered feathers and assure Jamaicans in the Big Apple that they were indeed special. Janice Allen, JTB's destination and marketing manager, told the audience that "being in Jamaica will be the place to be in 2007" and that "New York is the only place we could have started this North American tour."

Walsh, among the most popular in the touring party, urged Jamaicans to "come back home" to celebrate history created by CWC and "be a part of it, be involved in it" as the West Indies - who have won the tournament twice - may never host the event again.

The promotional group was scheduled to address several forums in the U.S. over the weekend and will later take the tour to places like England, Ireland and India.

An estimated 120,000 cricket fans are expected to pass through the Caribbean for CWC.

Bryan and the team assured the diaspora that accommodations to attend CWC in Jamaica would be available, but only if visitors made early arrangements.

"It's not status quo," said Air Jamaica representative Richard Lue. "You have to plan."

Gordon Williams is a Jamaican journalist based in the United States.