Fans wave Jamaica's flag at the opening match in the group stages of Cricket World Cup 2007, West Indies versus Pakistan at Sabina Park in Kingston on March 13.- Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

KINGSTON'S MAYOR Desmond McKenzie had said Jamaica got the worse package in the entire ICC Cricket World Cup.

Many cricket interests had disagreed with him, saying the yellow package - which gave Jamaica warm-up matches, the opening ceremony, group matches and the first semi-final - was the best package on offer.

The jury is still out, but there is strong evidence which suggests that the games Jamaica hosted were not attractive enough to consistently pull loads of spectators to Sabina Park.

Some 55,250 persons - an average of 7,893 - watched the games at Sabina Park between March 13, when the tournament opened, and April 24, when the first semi-final was played, according to ICC Cricket World Cup Inc. attendance data.

Sabina Park, which was upgraded for the CWC, has a permanent seating capacity of 16,700 and an overall capacity of 20,000.

Aside from the opening ceremony that had a near capacity crowd of 10,388 persons turning up at the newly built Trelawny multi-purpose stadium, Sabina Park rarely had capacity crowds. Its biggest crowd was on March 13, the day the West Indies defeated Pakistan in the tournament's opening game - 16,574 persons attended the game, approximately 90 per cent of the 19,000 tickets that were sold.

last at sabina

As few as 1,997 persons attended a single game (Zimbabwe vs Pakistan). A shade under 12,000 persons turned up to see the West Indies beat Ireland and Brian Lara play in his last game at Sabina Park, and a disappointing 9,231 persons watched the semi-final between New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

The Sunday Gleaner is yet to get a breakdown as to how many visitors came here for the tournament, but it seems the country fell way below the 20,000 target that was projected by JAMPRO.

Meanwhile, St. Lucia, which hosted group games and a semi-final match at the Beausejour Cricket Ground, outdid Jamaica in terms of attendance. An average of 8,697 persons watched each game there, a total of 52,179 for the six first-round games they hosted.

When the 13,875 persons who watched the Australia versus South Africa semi-final are added, St. Lucia has an encouraging attendance of 66,054 persons, 10,804 more than Jamaica's.

Similarly, Kensington Oval in Barbados, which hosted the Super Eight games and the final, also outshone Jamaica in terms of match attendance, boasting a figure of 112,060 persons spread across seven games.

Kensington's least attended game was the England vs Bangladesh clash to which 10,423 spectators turned out. A whopping 22,452 persons turned out to see the West Indies and England battle in Brian Lara's last competitive game, outdoing the 20,108 persons who later watched Australia beat Sri Lanka to lift the World Cup on April 28.