Tony Becca THE CRICKET World Cup got under way at Sabina Park on Tuesday and with the home team producing a brilliant performance and easily defeating Pakistan. What a lovely beginning it was.
The new-look Sabina Park - beautiful 'Bina, looked gorgeous, first in the morning's brilliant sunshine, then, with the shadows stretching across the lush green outfield, later on in the golden rays of the evening sun.
Although it was not filled at the start of the day's play, it filled out nicely and provided a wonderful atmosphere for the historic opening day and some magnificent strokeplay, and especially so by local boy Marlon Samuels.
As good as Sabina Park looked, however, and as exciting as the cricket, after two matches, has been, and especially so the opening one in which the West Indies, but for Christopher Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, batted well, in which, after giving away only two wides and bowling no no-balls in 47.2 overs, they bowled well, and in misfielding only once and taking all their catches, they also fielded brilliantly, the occasion that will linger with me for a long, long time is the opening ceremony at the impressive Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium on Sunday afternoon going into Sunday night.
As a Jamaican, I have always been proud of my country, as a West Indian, I have always been proud of being a brother to Trinidadians, Barbadians, Guyanese, Antiguans, St. Lucians, Grenadians and Vincentians, etc., etc., etc.
Memorable moments
I felt proud, as a Jamaican, when, for example, Lawrence Rowe scored a world record 214 and 100 not in his debut Test match, when Michael Holding picked up 14 wickets at The Oval, when Don Quarrie won the Olympic 200 metres gold medal, when Merlene Ottey won the 100 metres gold at the World Championships and when Lisa Hanna won the Miss World title. Whenever I hear Bob Marley's One Love or Redemption Song, when the bobsled team took the world by storm, when the Reggae Boyz qualified for the World Cup of football and when Courtney Walsh broke the world record for the most number of wickets in Test cricket, my heart also swelled.
And apart from Monday night at the Pegasus hotel when Deryck Murray gave a wonderful speech at the dinner to honour the West Indies champions of the 1975 and 1979, apart from Tuesday when the West Indies played almost a perfect match as if in honour of the past champions who were serenaded on the field before the start of the match, I felt proud, as a West Indian, when, for example, Sonny Ramadhin and Alfred Valentine destroyed England in 1950, when Gary Sobers stroked a world record 365 not out, when Rohan Kanhai stroked his way to 158 against India at Sabina Park, when Hasely Crawford won the Olympic 100 metres, when Brian Lara broke Sobers' world record, when Lara regained the world record and when Trinidad and Tobago qualified for the World Cup of football.
I was never so proud, however, as a Jamaican and as a West Indian, as I was on Sunday.
The opening ceremony was like a wonderland. In fact, the grandeur of the event, the perfect timing as far as the flow was concerned, the colour and the scenes depicting the culture of the region, the singing and dancing, the fireworks display, were all so magnificent that I felt like I was 10 feet tall.
The reaction of the Jamaicans visiting was great and they, too, were proud.
"I am not one to blow my trumpet," said a Jamaican living in Canada, "but when I go back, I am going to boast about this. I have never ever seen anything like this."
Outclassed 2003 ceremony
Although four years is a long time to remember and obviously to compare, Sunday's opening ceremony was better, much better than South Africa's presentation in 2003. In fact, it was so good, andso brilliant, that it matched up with the best of the Olympic Games - including, probably, that of 2000 in Sydney.
Looking at the pretty and attractive costumes, the number of dancers, the number of outstanding artistes who performed and the pyrotechnic displays that lit up the night sky on two occasions, the opening ceremony must have cost a pretty penny.
Whatever was the cost, and even if it was more than the budgeted US$2.5 million, it was worth every penny, and every West Indian, Jamaican or not, should say many thanks to Chris Dehring and his team for putting on a show but more so to Robert Bryan, chief executive officer of the Jamaica Local Organising Committee; Martin Lewis, executive producer, and also to Carol Lawes, L'Antoinette Stines, Bert Rose, Monica Lawrence, Brian St. Juste, Lawrence Tulloch and Peter Ashbourne.
