Office of the Prime Minister

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The opening ceremony of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, which will take place on March 11at the Trelawny Multipurpose Stadium, has been extended by approximately one hour.

Initially the ceremony was set to commence at 6:00 p.m. and end at 8:00 p.m. However, these plans have been adjusted in order to accommodate all the elements required to stage a successful production with a Pan Caribbean flavour.

The ceremony will now begin at 5:15pm and end shortly after 8:00pm Martin Lewis, Manager of the event told JIS News.

"We had to represent the issue and the important aspects of the show properly so we did not want to jeopardize anything by trying to squeeze everything into the two hours so, we did what we had to do and we got the permission to open the [time] window," he informed.

The gates will open at 2:00 p.m. and all persons should be seated by 4:30 p.m.

In terms of preparations for the ceremony, Mr. Lewis revealed that although it was a "huge challenge" to carry off such an important event, the planning was on target. "We will be ready to present one of the largest ceremonies that we have had in the Caribbean," he said.

As part of preparations, Mr. Lewis informed, participants in the ceremony and work crews totalling some 2,000 persons, have been taking their acts to the road on weekends en route to rehearse at the new built stadium in Trelawny.

"I guess if anyone sees 10 to 14 buses in a line going in one direction it will get some notice, so what we have done, is to get some of the sponsors such as Cable and Wireless and other sponsors and they supported it as it is an opportunity to 'big up' the opening ceremony and the whole Cricket World Cup," Mr. Lewis explained, adding that the road show also offered the opportunity to rehearse in front of an audience.

In the meantime, persons can expect to see a Pan Caribbean type representation of culture bursting with Caribbean energy and flavour.

"You can expect cultural influences from across the region, performances from regional top stars and also international stars under what we call the concert section of the show, which will show the effect of West Indian music on the rest of the world," Mr. Lewis noted.

"We might be having some major links between artistes and fellow international artistes who have chosen to record music of West Indian origin," he further disclosed. Ticket prices for the opening ceremony range from US$50 to US$120 and are available at the official ICC CWC ticket centre located at Shops 51 and 52 in the Kingston Mall, Downtown Kingston.

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