LONDON – West Indies’ Jason Holder was among 10 captains who took a break from team preparations yesterday to meet the Queen and Prince Harry, as historic London erupted in colourful and musical celebrations as it prepared to welcome today’s start of the 12th ICC World Cup.
Dressed formally in his West Indies team blazer, Holder joined his contemporaries at Buckingham Palace for the event, which marked the final day before hostilities began in the May 30 to July 14 showpiece, which will spawn 10 cities across the country.
The skippers then paraded before their flags on the Mall, the popular thoroughfare which leads to the Palace, where a massive celebration was held involving celebrities like great former West Indies captain Sir Vivian Richards and celebrated Jamaican Olympic sprinter Yohan Blake.
Former Australia captain Michael Clarke, who lifted the World Cup trophy four years ago in Melbourne, said the tournament would be a very competitive affair.
“Some of the greatest memories of my career were playing in this competition, so to have been able to have held this trophy up as captain in 2015 was very special,” said Clarke.
Favourites
“I think there’s five or six teams that can win it. England are in great form and their preparation has been outstanding so they are obviously the favourites.”
England, the current world number ones and heavy tournament favourites, will raise the curtain on the World Cup when they clash with South Africa at the historic Oval this morning.
West Indies, meanwhile, open their campaign tomorrow when they take on Pakistan at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
The Caribbean side are coming off a powerful showing against New Zealand in Bristol on Tuesday when they amassed 421 to come away with a 91-run victory in their final official warm-up.
“Any win is a good win especially with the position we’re in. We’re building towards something special in the World Cup and to get this momentum going into the first game against Pakistan I think is key,” Holder said following the victory.
“It was really good to see batsmen make full use of the surface and credit to everybody.”
West Indies won the first two editions of the World Cup in 1975 and 1979 under legendary captain Clive Lloyd but have failed to make an impression since.
In the last World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, West Indies were good enough to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament before bowing out to New Zealand.
Meanwhile, veteran opener Chris Gayle, has made a rallying call for fans to get behind the team and show their support during the ICC Cricket World Cup.
Speaking this week at a social event attended by scores of West Indians living in the United Kingdom, Gayle made a passionate speech and asked members of the audience to join him on the journey towards winning the biggest prize in the sport.
“This is my last World Cup and I want to go out on a high. We want to give it our best shot … we want to win the World Cup for the third time,” the veteran opener told the audience.
‘For the people’
“We want to win it for people like you who support West Indies cricket every day, everywhere and we want to win it for the millions around the world who love us.”
Gayle, who is playing in his fifth World Cup, was the guest speaker at the function in Bristol.
“I travel the world and I meet a lot of great people and they always say ‘Chris Gayle we love you and we love the West Indies brand of cricket’ [so] we want to play that kind of cricket and entertain the fans. I do it for the fans, they are the ones that keep me going,” Gayle said.
“So I’m reaching out to each and everyone of you to let you know that we value your support and to keep the support going strong. We want to reach that final at Lord’s and we want to win that World Cup.” (CMC)
WEST INDIES CAPTAIN Jason Holder (right) meeting Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace yesterday. (GP)
