After 10 years waiting, the ICC Cricket World Cup finally came to the Caribbean region this month. Now, with the first round out of the way, The Gleaner looks back at the brilliance, bleeps and blunders of the World Cup thus far.
March 5 - First set of warm-up matches: Shaky start for the Caribbean most of the stadia and infrastructure were ready, persons working in Jamaica had problems getting accreditation for the opening ceremony.
But nothing would stall the Windies' show. Marlon Samuels stroked a blissful 100 retired hurt as West Indies beat Kenya in their first warm-up game.
March 6 - The cricket squads of Pakistan, South Africa, Canada and Ireland had to be evacuated from their hotel in Trinidad because of a gas leak, security staff said.
There was a major scare at Sabina Park after rains caused flooding in some parts of the stadium due to the blockage of some drains.
The Local Organising Committee also had to boot its original seating contractors after they began installing faulty seats in the newly built North Stand.
March 9 - The West Indies did enough to turn fans against them by posting a depressing 85 against India and were beaten by nine wickets in their last warm-up game at the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium.
March 11 - Spectacular opening ceremony at the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium.
March 13 - After the lavish opening ceremony, enthusiasm among fans could almost be touched. The first game of the tournament loomed and it was down to the West Indies to ride on this renewed Caribbean confidence.
Pakistan stood in the way of Brian Lara and his boys, but the regional side would not disappoint. They beat Inzamam-ul-Haq's team by 54 runs in front of an almost capacity Sabina crowd.
March 15 - Ireland and Zimbabwe played to the third ever World Cup draw at Sabina Park after both teams scored 222.
March 16 - South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs created history against minnows The Netherlands by smashing six sixes in an over delivered by Dann van Bunge, the first ever 36-run over in international cricket. Mark Boucher clubbed a half-century in 21 balls, a World Cup record.
March 17 - Pakistan, the 1992 champions, are knocked out of the World Cup by first timers Ireland.
Pakistan had entered the tournament at No. 4 in the ICC rankings. Coach Bob Woolmer was devastated.
"I've experienced a few bad days in my life and this ranks pretty highly with ones that I have experienced," Woolmer said at a press conference Saturday after the loss.
Bangledesh beat India by five wickets in Trinidad and Tobago to set the stage for an Indian departure from the tournament.
March 18 - Woolmer is pronounced dead at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Mona at 12:14 p.m., after being found unconscious in his room at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel. A post-mortem examination showed that his death was due to manual strangulation, prompting the police to launch a murder investigation.
March 24 - Australia's Matthew Hayden scored the fastest ever World Cup century - 101 off 66 balls.
March 25 - India crashed out of the World Cup after Bangladesh beat Bermuda by seven wickets at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago.
