But still it was the ‘Destination West Indies’ sales pitch that was seen everywhere. Port of Spain’s Most Valuable Person Brian said he too welcomed the world in his backyard. “I want to say that the reason that you are here for World Cup is not just to enjoy this special occasion but also to take the good news back about our countries and to ensure that your friends and families and even yourselves come back for a visit some time in the future,” he said.

The ‘Come for cricket, stay for party’ motto of this world cup hopes to push the game back in focus in the land where basketball and football rule. At the University ground where South Africa and Ireland played, it was quite symbolic to see the basketball hopes dumped into a corner of the gymnasium that has been turned into an ICC media centre. It’s the West Indian way of first luring one to the sea and sand and then bringing out the stumps for a game of beach cricket.

Vs Netherlands today

The first phase of the warm-ups have started, and India play on Tuesday, versus the Netherlands at Montego Bay, with a lot of issues to be sorted out before diving into the main phase of the tournament. At nets today coach Greg Chappell had a close-up view of the hits and misses. Sachin Tendulkar was the cynosure, as was MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, practising their hits.

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