Tony Becca

THE CRICKET World Cup is off and running. After the magnificent opening ceremony, today marks the 13th day of action. Up to Friday, 21 matches were played. The final match in the first round will be played today and, but for one or two things, up to now it has been a near perfect exercise, if not yet, and has promised the best World Cup ever.

With the opening ceremony setting the stage, the action on the field has been exciting, interesting and, on a few occasions, surprising.

With strong teams like Australia and South Africa in Group A, India and Sri Lanka in Group B, New Zealand and England in Group C and the West Indies and Pakistan in Group D, taking advantage of weak teams like Scotland and The Netherlands, Bermuda, Canada, and even Zimbabwe, there has been a wonderful parade of strokes and a lot of runs.

With the West Indies defeating Pakistan before a near full house on opening day, with New Zealand defeating England and Sri Lanka defeating India, and with Ireland picking off Pakistan and knocking them out of the hunt, with Bangladesh defeating India and on the brink of sending them home, there have been some close and exciting contests and some thrilling and surprising ones - and the real contest has not yet begun.

With due respect to teams like Scotland and The Netherlands, to Bermuda and to Canada if not to Ireland, who have crashed the party and replaced Pakistan, the real thing begins on Tuesday with the start of the Super Eights - with the home team, the West Indies, taking on Australia, the defending champions, at the new Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.

With the best, minus Pakistan and possibly India, taking on the best, including Ireland, in a round-robin contest to decide the top four, that is when the contest and the fireworks are expected to begin.

But for two things, including one terrible one, however, so far, so good.

One of those things is the crowd, and the other is the murder, the tragic death, of Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer.

Based on the expectations of the organisers, the world and his wife, tens of thousands of visitors were expected to be in the West Indies for the World Cup - to watch some exciting cricket, to drink some rum and coke and Red Stripe beer, and wine and dance to the pulsating music of the Caribbean.

So far, however, that has not been the case, and based on the turnout at Sabina Park, based on the words of local hoteliers, definitely so here in Jamaica.

Although the crowds at Sabina Park, for example, have been good - and especially so when, as expected, the West Indies have been in action - the vast majority, as I expected, have been locals.

With the first round of the competition being simply something to offer exposure to the Cinderellas of the game and expected to be nothing more than a warm-up for the big boys, with the men separated from the boys during that exercise, and with the best up against the best from round two onwards, hopefully,however, the region will be packed with visitors from Tuesday onwards.

the big disappointment

The other thing, the big disappointment, the thing that has unfortunately thrown a gloom over the World Cup is the death of Woolmer on the morning following Pakistan's shocking defeat to Ireland and their exit from the tournament.

Had it been a heart attack, it would have been bad but not too bad.

The fact that it was murder, however, the fact that, for whatever the reason, he was strangled, was terrible, and regardless of its magnificent opening ceremony, regardless of what has happened so far on the field, and regardless of any brilliance to come, unfortunately this World Cup, the one that was expected to be the best ever, may end up being remembered for the death of Woolmer - one of cricket's best coaches, one of the game's finest gentlemen.

But for the missing visitors and the death of Woolmer, the World Cup has been good so far and despite the death of Woolmer and the confusion that followed re the cause of death, whether the West Indies win or not, hopefully it will end up being the best in terms of the action on the field and the number of people, including visitors, watching it.

The question, however, is this: What is more important to making the World Cup the best ever?

Is it the number of people watching it or is it the action on the field?

To those who were or are looking forward to thousands of tourists visiting the region for the World Cup - to the money to be earned during the World Cup - the early exit of Pakistan must be a big disappointment. And it would be worse for them if England, whose future depended on the result of their match against Kenya yesterday, are sent packing, and if India, whose future depends on the result of today's match between Bangladesh and Bermuda, really drop out.

There is, however, nothing in sport as exciting as the triumph of the underdog and to those who believe that the action is more important, the presence of Ireland, more than likely the presence of Bangladesh, and possibly even the presence of Kenya is exciting - and especially so remembering where some of them are coming from.

In 1976, I visited Ireland to cover the West Indies/Ireland game, and I was sitting in the small area called a press box when someone came to me and invited me into the broadcast area.

"What for?" I asked him.

"Because we need someone to explain some things to our listeners, such as what is a bye, what is a leg bye and what is a no-ball," was the reply.

During the day, the West Indies dismissed Ireland for 68, Vanburn Holder took eight wickets for 22 runs and that evening I went to dinner in the hotel. I sat with some of the players and when a waiter came to take our orders, this is what transpired.

"Where are you guys from?" asked the waiter.

"From the West Indies," came the reply.

"So, what are you doing in Dublin?" asked the waiter.

"Playing cricket," came the reply.

"Cricket, cricket in Ireland?" asked the astonished waiter.

Ireland's march into the second round of the World Cup is one of the romantic, fairytale stories so far. Probably not even the people in Ireland believed in their wildest dreams that that would have happened - not 31 years ago, and not before two Saturdays ago when they sent Pakistan packing.