Fans have a gala time as Cup rolls on

Sydney: Forget leather, willow and lazy afternoons, the World Cup’s storyline is legions of passionate Indian fans, ‘light-up’ cricket stumps, officials keeping tabs on bookies...And even the back catalogue of Gary Glitter. In New Zealand, where most of the seven venues are compact and informal, officials have been quick to praise the party atmosphere, helped by a brewery offering NZL $1 million ($745,000) to be shared among fans who take a clean one-handed catch while wearing the sponsor’s T-shirt.

Christchurch’s scheduled three games have now been and gone, but the city relished hosting a global sports festival for the first time since being devastated by an earthquake. Canterbury Cricket chief executive Lee Germon, the driving force behind the purpose-built Hagley Oval which replaced the destroyed former home of cricket in Christchurch, Lancaster Park, said it was a significant time for the city.

“It’s really important that the youngsters are able to see their heroes playing here again,” he said. At sleepy, picturesque Nelson, students of 1960s and 1970s pop music were being catered for.
On the playlist for the West Indies’ defeat by Ireland and Zimbabwe’s victory against the United Arab Emirates were Pink Floyd’s Us and Them, The Monkees’ I’m a Believer and, oddly, disgraced British glam-rocker Gary Glitter’s Rock and Roll (Part 1 and 2).

Those music bombs which punctuate intervals between overs are a deliberate eclectic mix, according to the International Cricket Council. “Sportainment has a generic playlist for the tournament and then depending on who is playing, this is then complemented with songs that are popular from those countries,” an ICC spokesman said. “Of course, we share this complete list of songs with the respective teams to ensure that they are happy with them.”

Sometimes instructions issued from the ICC don’t always filter down to the smaller host venues. In Nelson, a juice stall operator was given permission to sell drinks at the Ireland-West Indies game only to turn up on the day to be told her drinks were banned because Pepsi was an official sponsor. Over in Australia, meanwhile, officials at the Adelaide Oval were worried when the capacity of the refurbished stadium had to be reduced from 53,000 to 47,000 to accommodate black sightscreens at both ends. After all, the stadium’s first World Cup game was the highly-anticipated one between old foes India and Pakistan. But officials need not have worried. Fewer than 42,000 turned up for the game.