Finally the day has come! ICC World Cup Opening Ceremony kicks off the world’s biggest cricket extravaganza.
The teams are ready and itching to start, warm up matches have thrown up huge upsets and predictable drubbings all within the space of ten days, and the spotlight is now firmly on the competition itself, the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup England and Wales.
It all kicked off with a somewhat sodden opening ceremony held on London’s Mall, scene of so many historic welcomes offering an iconic backdrop of Buckingham Palace with all its pomp and pageantry nicely fused with the glitz and fizz of modern global cricket tournaments.
Of course it rained. This is England in May, but the hope is that we get the poor weather out of the way up front allowing for a glorious few weeks of willow, leather and vibrant celebration of this incredible game.
The ceremony was hosted by all-rounder legend Freddy Flintoff supported by Paddy McGuinness and Shibani Dandekar. Their enthusiasm and humour brought the event nicely into focus and of course the evening was star studded throughout with the galácticos of the game all involved in the fun and frolics. Sir Viv Richards, Brett Lee, former India captain Anil Kumble, Mahela Jayawardene and Azhar Ali amongst some of the greats to thwack the ball as if they had never retired in the ‘60 second challenge’.
The 60-second challenge is a mini game of cricket in which the teams (one cricket legend and one celebrity), each representing their specific nation of the 10 sides participating in the tournament, took part. The aim of the game was to score as many runs as possible in the given sixty seconds, with former Australia batsman David Boon standing in as the umpire. Other cricketing legends like, Jacques Kallis, Kevin Pietersen were also part of the game.
And if form in this event is anything to go by for the overall winners of the tournament then will be in poll position as many expect anyway.
England (represented by Kevin Pietersen and Chris Hughes of Love Island fame) emerged the winners with a total score of 74, pipping Australia’s Brett Lee and Pat Cash (a former Wimbledon Tennis champion), who scored a total of 69 runs.
The Pakistan team of noble peace prize winner of Malala Yousufzai and Azhar Ali scored a total of 38 runs, whereas the Bangladesh pair of Abdur Razzaq and actress Jaya Hasan put up the second lowest total of 22. The West Indies were represented by Viv Richards and Olympian sprinter Yohan Blake, who managed a decent score of 47.
After his success in the challenge KP cheekily added:
“Long may the England badge continue to flourish over the next few weeks. The “no fear of failure” is outstanding.”
As they were in the neighbourhood, all the captains had an audience with Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Harry who appears to love his sports.
Michael Clarke has the honour of presenting the trophy officially to start the tournament and it brought back lots of great memories for him:
“Very special. Some of the fondest memories of my career is playing in a World Cup, so to win it in 2015 is very special.”
And not one to miss an opportunity to plug his countrymen he went on to add:
“The last three or four months has been outstanding, so they’re in for a terrific tournament.”
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousufzai, who earlier represented Pakistan in the 60-Second Challenge said:
“We now see more and more women take part in cricket. I think women should take part more in sport. I have been a big fan of cricket since my childhood. I think this sport connects different people from different cultures. We’re all here to celebrate cricket.”
India skipper Virat Kohli at the event acknowledged the power of fans at the tournament:
“Lovely to be here. Such a huge fan base here. That’s a thing of pressure and a thing of pride as well. We’ll look to utilise the crowd advantage.”
And finally England captain on the eve of the opening match of the event in which his tea, take on the tricky Proteus summed up:
“We can’t wait to start. Tomorrow’s obviously a very exciting day. I’m incredibly proud to be where we’re at. We hope to be good hosts,”
The ceremony came to end with the official World Cup song ”Stand By” being performed to much applause.
No more waiting. Here we go! Bring it on!!!!
