West Indies players celebrate after taking the final Pakistani wicket in their opening match of the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup at Sabina Park, yesterday. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

Malcolm Speed, the chief executive officer of the International Cricket Council (ICC), has expressed great satisfaction with Jamaica's preparation for the Cricket World Cup which started with aplomb for the West Indies at Sabina Park yesterday.

"I am very impressed with what I have seen, and impressed with the facilities," Mr. Speed told The Gleaner at Sabina Park where the West Indies opened their account with a win over Pakistan in the tournament's first game.

Thousands of persons, most of them Jamaicans, including politicians and public sector workers, turnedup to watch as a Cricket World Cup pitch was sampled for the first time in the Caribbean.

Speed, who was among those to see history unfold, commented that "the atmosphere here is great and the people are lovely ... and the grounds are beautiful."

Jamaica, which successfully staged the opening ceremony on Sunday at the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium, is hosting Ireland, Pakistan, Zimbabwe along with the West Indies here.

Over J$8 billion has been invested by the Government for the hosting of the tournament, with most of the spending going towards the building of the new stadium in Trelawny and the renovation of Sabina Park.

Mr. Speed said he is not surprised by what Jamaica has delivered to the region.

PREPARATIONS

"I have been coming to board meetings to discuss Cricket World Cup preparations every quarter for the three years and I know the tremendous amount of hard work that has gone into the planning.

"I would have been surprised if there had been problems," he said as a Pakistan wicket fell.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Ealan Powell, said the day went "exceptionally well security-wise".

"There was no serious breach of security and there was no major traffic concern," said SSP Powell, who is deputy chair of both the security and traffic management committees of the Cricket World Cup.

Over 16,000 tickets were sold for the game and except for a few hundred empty chairs, Sabina Park was well populated. Of note, however, the sea of Pakistan supporters that was anticipated did not materialise as just a few hundred turned up.