Carlo Redwood of Red Stripe - Contributed

LOCAL beer manufacturers, Red Stripe will take the popular Mound away from Sabina Park, to two separate venues in Kingston and Montego Bay.

The famous Mound has been replaced by a Party Stand at Sabina Park, and other venues across the region, throughout the ICC WI CWC 20007 tournament.

However, to ensure that the largely new breed of spectators who have been drawn to one-day cricket by the attraction get a chance for similar entertainment while the competition is being played, Red Stripe Mound settings with giant screens on which matches will be shown live have been replicated at Pier One in Montego Bay and the Cable and Wireless Golf Academy in New Kingston.

The first match in the ICC WI Cricket World Cup will bowl off today with home team the West Indies taking on Pakistan in a potentially explosive Group D encounter at Sabina Park, beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Carlo Redwood, group marketing manager for Red Stripe, says his company realised that without the Mound there would be a void in the cricket experience of many fans so the choice was made to recreate that activity elsewhere.

Importance of the mound

"Red Stripe recognises how important the Mound is to Jamaicans, it has almost become part of our culture," said Redwood.

"We could not have World Cup Cricket come and go without these Mound activities," he added.

The first Mound event will take place today at Pier One in MoBay, beginning at 8:00 a.m. It will be all inclusive, with an unlimited supply of food and drink all day.

As usual, it includes a live performance and for today's show dancehall duo Voicemail will provide the entertainment for the day's proceedings.

The campaign under which Red Stripe is providing this package has been dubbed 'bring cricket to the people' and it is open to all patrons at a cost of $2,500 per ticket.

A number of other Mound events have been planned, many of them on the basis of first round results that would set up some intriguing clashes in the Super Eight stage. The top two placed teams in the first round will qualify for that stage, where all teams will play each other, except the one that also qualified from the same first round grouping.

The other Mound events planned are: March 24 - Australia vs South Africa at the C&W Golf Academy; March 27 - West Indies vs Australia at C&W Golf Academy; March 29 - West Indies vs England at Pier One; April 1 - West Indies vs India at C&W Golf Academy and Montego Bay; April 7 - Sri Lanka vs South Africa at C&W Golf Academy; April 10 - West Indies vs South Africa at C&W Golf Academy; April 19 - West Indies vs Sri Lanka at C& W Golf Academy and Montego Bay; April 24 - semi-final at Pier One; April 25 - semi-final at C&W Golf Academy; and April 28 - finals at Pier One.