Cricket World Cup

Battle of the ball and willow

When the word cricket even brushes past your ears, the excitement that most of you feel can't be compared to any other game. Although volleyball is the national sport of Sri Lanka, cricket has become the most popular sport of the country, and many children, especially boys, dream of becoming the future Sanath Jayasuriya or Kumar Sangakkara.

If you travel throughout the country, within a couple of hours, proof of this fact could be seen. But, now the heat is even more intense and cricket fever has reached a high pitch since the Cricket World Cup is just two days away.

I am sure many of you are going down memory lane to 1996, when our Sri Lankan cricketers victoriously brought home the World Cup. Therefore, we thought we would enlighten you with the background knowledge of this exciting event.

As some of you may be aware, the Cricket World Cup is the biggest competition which is held between all One-day International Cricket playing nations. Cricket is governed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and it is the ICC who is responsible for organising the event.

Therefore this event is known as the ICC Cricket World Cup, although it is generally referred to as the Cricket World Cup. This tournament is only for men although there is a Cricket World Cup for women too which is conducted every four years since 1973.

It is interesting to note that the first World Cup tournament for men was held only in 1975!

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Cricket World Cup 2007

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 is hosted by the West Indies and it is to be held from March 13 to March 28.(The opening ceremony will be on March 11) Sixteen nations are competing in fifty one matches all together.

The participating countries are Sri Lanka, Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, West Indies, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Netherlands, Scotland, Canada, Ireland and Bermuda.

The teams are divided into four groups as A, B, C, D and after the preliminary rounds, the top two teams in each group will play in a 'Super 8' competition, to choose the semi-finalists.

The Sri Lankan team is in group B along with India, Bangladesh and Bermuda, and we can expect to see them in the 'Super 8' hopefully. Preliminary matches where Sri Lanka plays against Bermuda, Bangladesh and India will be held March 15, 21 and 23 respectively.

This is the first time where the World Cup has been hosted by a Caribbean nation. For your information, the Caribbean means the region of the Americas consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands, and the surrounding coasts.

The United States tried to host the event in their newly built Lauderhill Stadium in Florida. However, the West Indies got the opportunity to host the tournament, beating not only the US, but also Bermuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and a second bid by Jamaica.

The tournament will be televised in over two hundred countries and it is expected to have more than two billion viewers. Apart from that, more than one hundred thousand visitors would be flying to the West Indies solely to see the World Cup tournament. The mascot in this event is a creature similar to a raccoon known as 'Mello'.

Over the last few months, our Sri Lankan team went through a period of mixed experiences when it came to winning matches.

However, the spirits of the team are high, and we must not forget that cricket is such an unpredictable game. Therefore, you never know who will end up victorious at the end.

Let us join together with the rest of the nation to wish our lions the best of luck so that they come back home victoriously once again, bringing pride and glory to our motherland.

Aravinda Dassanayake