Sports

Sports

Windies a threat to top order
Dazzling display marks World Cup opening ceremony at Newlands Cricket Grounds. The weather, however, is windy and causes concern.
By Daminda Wijesuriya in Cape Town
With a dazzling display of dance and cultural heritage, South Africa marked the opening of the biggest chapter in Cricket World Cup history. The Tournament with, 44 exciting days, total number of 54 One-Day Internationals, 800,000 fans and two billion television viewers, will certainly go down history books as the biggest ever cricket extravaganza held since introduction of the World Cup in England 28 years ago.

The tournament got underway last night with a grand opening ceremony at Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town. With a picturesque table mountain in the background, the opening ceremony created much better scenes, than the organisers expected. However the the weather was little bit windy, and the organisers were not all that happy.

Tournament Director Dr. Ali Bacher, a former UCBSA (United Cricket Board of South Africa) official and a well-respected national captain of the Rainbow Nation, had clearly said that he wanted to make this event as the best ever in the world cup history. Not just the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the UCBSA were involved in making this event a success.

Mayor of each city in Southern Africa and even the general tailor, who is the chief designer of the event, was involved to create the opening ceremony a colourful one. Mdurize Mkhize is one such person, who had designed most of the eye-catching costumes used in the opening ceremony.

The 32-year-old guy once pleaded his mother to teach him how to use a sewing machine and once he learnt the art, got into the clothing business in 1999. He gave the organisers a lower quotation of the actual expenses that he would have to make, simply because he wanted the job in the World Cup. Yes, It was a great investment by real sense of the word. Now his name, Mdurize Mkhize, is known all over the world.

He will get rich dividends for money that he lost in making these clothes and that's a novel way to success. "I have never done such a big job before. I didn't think about the transport or paying people to work for me. I wanted the job so that I could get my name out there" said Mdurize Mkhize.

His theme was get any kind of western clothing and give it an African flavour. There were 4,500 volunteers involved in this opening ceremony and most of them were proud of being invited to take part in this world event.

Though some are not keen about opening ceremony and other functions they eagerly wait for the action on Sunday. The hosts, South Africa, will take on West Indies at Newlands, which is meant for bounce and express deliveries.

Both sides have good fast bowlers and batsmen who are capable of excelling in these conditions. However Windies look a threat with the top order running into to a great form while South African attack falling little below par in warm up games.

Host's key bowler Jacques Kallis is nursing from injury and it's doubtful how well he could trouble the opposition. In the meantime Carl Hooper's men fired from all cylinders by scoring two back to back wins in the warm up games. Wavell Hinds, Carl Hooper, and Ramnaresh Sarawan means business as Windies scored 360 for 4 in 50 overs in a warm up match at Kimberly.

Hooper needed just 69 balls to reach his 100 not out and most likely Marlon Samules will be retained in the West Indies squad since his injury is not severs as it was appeared before. This is not good news to hosts.

Back to Sports