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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>South Africa's Opening Ceremony was better, says former WICB president Pat Rousseau</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>DANIA BOGLE, Observer staff reporter
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>FORMER West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Pat Rousseau believes that the South African Opening Ceremony of the eighth ICC Cricket World Cup in 2003 was better than the much hyped ninth edition held here at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium on Sunday.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Spectators, members of the foreign press, and other dignitaries who were at the official opening thought it was spectacular, and several who had been to all nine Cricket World Cup openings, said the function, staged on Jamaica's picturesque North Coast with the Caribbean Sea as a backdrop, was the best they had seen.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Rousseau, who was head of the WICB until 2001 and was widely credited with piloting the West Indies' winning bid for the rights to stage this year's ninth tournament, watched the opening ceremony on television and said it was well put together despite a few missing elements.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"I thought it went very well," he told the Observer. "I thought the first section, which was very much like a high quality concept, would have benefited from more of the sort of the colourful presentation that was done in the second half, but I thought it was very well done overall and it looked good on television."<P class=StoryText align=justify>"I think if they had added some more colour on the field while the artistes were performing it would have created a bigger spectacle, but other than that I thought it was very well put together, " Rousseau added.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The attorney, who became president of the WICB in 1996, said he wouldn't call the Caribbean's version of the opening ceremony the best and thought South Africa put on a better show when the country hosted in 2003.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"I couldn't say it was the best. I think the South African one probably was better in that it portrayed that feel of let us explore the country with music and dance and moving around the story of the country's history. The thing (the West Indies) presented in their own was very good, but I don't think it rates best and basically the big ceremony started with South Africa, before that they were relatively small functions so it's really with South Africa we have to compare against," he said.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Rousseau pointed out that they were a few hiccups with the televised sound of the celebration which was broadcast to an estimated 2.6 billion people worldwide, but he didn't blame the organisers.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"There was a problem with the sound in the first half of the show, but I don't know if it was their fault or the television feed, but other than that it was pretty well produced. "<P class=StoryText align=justify>Rousseau snubbed<P class=StoryText align=justify>Pat Rousseau, the former West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president credited with leading the negotiations that brought the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 to the Caribbean, did not receive an official invitation to Sunday's opening ceremony at the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium.<P class=StoryText align=justify>As a result, Rousseau, who led the WICB from 1996 until he stepped aside in controversial circumstances in 2001, chose to watch the spectacle on television rather than travel to the stadium located at Florence Hall, just outside Falmouth on Jamaica's north-west coast.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"I wasn't offended, but I thought it showed a lack of a sense of protocol and proprietary not because I got the World Cup, but because I'm a former president of the West Indies Cricket Board," Rousseau told the Observer.
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>DANIA BOGLE, Observer staff reporter
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>FORMER West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Pat Rousseau believes that the South African Opening Ceremony of the eighth ICC Cricket World Cup in 2003 was better than the much hyped ninth edition held here at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium on Sunday.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Spectators, members of the foreign press, and other dignitaries who were at the official opening thought it was spectacular, and several who had been to all nine Cricket World Cup openings, said the function, staged on Jamaica's picturesque North Coast with the Caribbean Sea as a backdrop, was the best they had seen.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Rousseau, who was head of the WICB until 2001 and was widely credited with piloting the West Indies' winning bid for the rights to stage this year's ninth tournament, watched the opening ceremony on television and said it was well put together despite a few missing elements.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"I thought it went very well," he told the Observer. "I thought the first section, which was very much like a high quality concept, would have benefited from more of the sort of the colourful presentation that was done in the second half, but I thought it was very well done overall and it looked good on television."<P class=StoryText align=justify>"I think if they had added some more colour on the field while the artistes were performing it would have created a bigger spectacle, but other than that I thought it was very well put together, " Rousseau added.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The attorney, who became president of the WICB in 1996, said he wouldn't call the Caribbean's version of the opening ceremony the best and thought South Africa put on a better show when the country hosted in 2003.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"I couldn't say it was the best. I think the South African one probably was better in that it portrayed that feel of let us explore the country with music and dance and moving around the story of the country's history. The thing (the West Indies) presented in their own was very good, but I don't think it rates best and basically the big ceremony started with South Africa, before that they were relatively small functions so it's really with South Africa we have to compare against," he said.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Rousseau pointed out that they were a few hiccups with the televised sound of the celebration which was broadcast to an estimated 2.6 billion people worldwide, but he didn't blame the organisers.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"There was a problem with the sound in the first half of the show, but I don't know if it was their fault or the television feed, but other than that it was pretty well produced. "<P class=StoryText align=justify>Rousseau snubbed<P class=StoryText align=justify>Pat Rousseau, the former West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president credited with leading the negotiations that brought the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 to the Caribbean, did not receive an official invitation to Sunday's opening ceremony at the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium.<P class=StoryText align=justify>As a result, Rousseau, who led the WICB from 1996 until he stepped aside in controversial circumstances in 2001, chose to watch the spectacle on television rather than travel to the stadium located at Florence Hall, just outside Falmouth on Jamaica's north-west coast.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"I wasn't offended, but I thought it showed a lack of a sense of protocol and proprietary not because I got the World Cup, but because I'm a former president of the West Indies Cricket Board," Rousseau told the Observer.
