Sabina Park atmosphere lifted team - Lara
Guyana Chronicle
March 15, 2007
KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) – West Indies captain Brian Lara was overwhelmed by the atmosphere on Tuesday at Sabina Park during his side’s 54-run victory over Pakistan in the opening match of Cricket World Cup 2007.
The victory was marked by jubilant celebrations among a crowd of about 20 000 that vociferously cheered on every West Indian boundary and wicket.
“The atmosphere was different to what we’ve been accustomed to. It’s the opening of the World Cup and we expected it,” Lara said.
“It was tremendous. The people of Jamaica and others from around the Caribbean showed their patriotism. It was a high point for us.”
Apart from loud cheers, the supporters also formed a Mexican Wave during a third-wicket partnership of 60 between Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf.
With the Wave in progress, the partnership was broken to spark more celebrations around the ground.
“I think it was the biggest crowd ever at Sabina Park watching a cricket game with the West Indies involved,” Lara said.
“It was a tremendous atmosphere. As soon we got 11 guys on the field, you saw the spirit and the camaraderie.”
West Indies rallied at the end to post 241 for nine from their 50 overs and then restricted Pakistan to 187 in 47.2 overs.
They owed a lot to all-rounder Dwayne Smith, who hit a brisk 32 off 15 balls and grabbed three for 36 with his medium-pace.
“The batting department did it in spurts.
We had a couple of very good periods, and maybe it is something we need to talk about over the next four or five days,” Lara said.
“It seems 241 in the end was a good total and the guys did really well at the end. A team which has a lot of big-hitters at the end like Dwayne Smith, we need to be scoring much more heavily early on.
“We are going to work on this area. All in all, it was a good team performance on the field and I think the guys are going to gain a lot of confidence going forward.”
Waving the Windies on to victory
By Earl Moxam
KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) - It was the day a wave from Mexico swarmed over the island of Jamaica.
West Indies fans used the famous Mexican wave to urge on their team and shouted and danced in the stands in celebration of every stroke, every run saved, every wicket taken until victory was theirs.
Just when things seemed to be slipping away from the home team, with Pakistan captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq and the brilliant Mohammad Yousuf staging a steady middle order recovery, the fans got into the action, with The Wave.
It started in the temporary South West stand; then it was picked up in the massive George Headley Stand, and on to the mound, then across to the Northern stand. There, some West Indian sports journalists, forgetting for a moment that they had a job to do, abandoned their computer keyboards to give the raised arms salute.
From there the wave swept across to the exclusive Kingston Cricket Club stand, where even the usually conservative members of this tradition bound ‘preserve’ sprang up on cue.
Encouraged by the initial success, the instigators, picked it up again, and round and round it went four times, the noise level rising with each relay.
Apparently distracted by the crescendo, the usually unflappable Mohammad Yousuf, uncharacteristically, gave it away, caught behind off Dwayne Smith.
As if taking credit for that breakthrough, the fans were unstoppable from then on!
Meanwhile, high up in the Southern stand, Captain Horace Burrell, the military man turned football executive, who took Jamaica’s Reggae Boys to the 1998 World Cup in France, could not avoid sharing his joy at the success of the cricketers.
“Very exciting and befitting the opening game of the World Cup, more so one being played in the Caribbean,” he beamed.
Urged on to comment further, Captain Burrell declared, cricket “the most unifying force within the Caribbean – the catalyst for holding the region together”… and a game that must continue to be supported for the benefit of the people of the region.
So, the first match won, appropriately, by the inconsistent Windies, and, suddenly, for some delirious fans, even the massive loss last week to India in a practice game in Trelawny was “part of a well thought out plan!”
“I never worry ‘bout dat man. Dat was part of de strategy. Lose de warm-up match and mek dem get complacent, den show dem we mean business in the real ting!” one fan declared to his friends, almost as if he was the coach.
Half-hour later four downhearted Pakistan fans, sitting on the sidewalk along Oxford Road in New Kingston, smiled ruefully in response to friendly waves from ecstatic West Indies fans, drunk on the wine of victory.
A great first day of cricket action it was, according to many fans. That too was the sentiment of Malcolm Speed, CEO of the International Cricket Council.
“Fantastic first day atmosphere”, he said, adding his satisfaction with the upgraded Sabina Park.
As for the state of West Indies cricket, Speed said he was “very optimistic” about the future of the game in the West Indies, “given what I have observed so far in the World Cup”.
He quickly added a cautionary note, however, pointing out that there were still many days to come.