The northern stand forms a fine backdrop to the action on the field. - Claudine Housen/Staff Photographer

Audley Boyd, Assistant Sport Editor

FLORENCE HALL, Trelawny:

THERE WASN'T a huge crowd to create a buzz. It would not have taken away from their anticipation though, as big, left-handed West Indies opener Chris Gayle stood poised and Kenya's opening bowler Thomas Odoyo ran in to deliver the first ball.

Harmlessly, the ball skidded by outside the off-stump as Gayle, noted among the game's most aggressive openers, never even offered a stroke.

As uneventful as the first ball was, so were the first few overs of the first warm-up match in the ICC WI CWC 2007 match at the spanking new and well-manicured multi-purpose stadium, dropped in the vast expanse of Trelawny woodlands against the backdrop of the Caribbean Sea that filters beautifully into the Glistening Waters lagoon.

Cool as the breeze and the landscape around the ground, Gayle, at the start, and later Marlon Samuels, began their innings calmly before making a blazing transformation, clearly signalling what's to come in this tournament.

Gayle ended with 75 off 91 balls and Samuels a majestic, unbeaten hundred off 112 balls as a crowd looking like anything above a thousand watched as the Windies lazed along to a 21-run victory over the Africans, one of six associate member countries participating.

Organisers said sales figures gave indicators of those numbers, but clearly they weren't in anticipation of an incredible accreditation glitch that saw some of its top-notch executives, as well as ground staff, denied access.

To wipe away the embarrassment and ensure the match got under way at its scheduled 9:30 a.m. start, an ICC tournament director, Michael Hall, whose specific responsibilities cover cricket operations, went out in the middle and helped the available groundsmen remove covers off the pitch.

More people were expedited accreditation without pictures and pencilled-in information, much to the chagrin of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) boss, Dr. Wayne Reid, who questioned the 11th-hour solutions for some for a Cup planning process which had begun more than three years earlier.

Controversy

Yet, there was more controversy, sparked by comments made this year by legendary West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding that six associate members shouldnot be playing in the World Cup as it watered down the competition.

There have been a series of counter-attacks, launched mainly against the background of Sri Lanka's amazing turn from minnows conceding some heavy lashings to world champions.

The debate rages on, and one thing is certain, some teams are sure to get a battering amid the eternal hope of inflicting that one upset.

Such is the World Cup, a tournament no different from the nature of one-day cricket, full of surprises.

By today, the full complement of 16 nations would have arrived in Jamaica for what promises to be a most colourful opening ceremony, to be presided over by the game's top bosses.

Then, Trelawny's face will be shining on a world whose top 16 cricketing teams will depart a day later to launch their hunt for glory.

Like the start of Gayle's innings against Kenya and the crowd in attendance, so will many of the games start. And like the quickfire turnaround by himself and Samuels, so will others inspire greater responses as the Caribbean and the world buzz with excitement for what promises to be a tremendous spectacle.