TORONTO, Canada – From the snow of Canada, Howard Petrook predicts sunny days ahead for the West Indies team at the ICC Cricket World Cup which gets under away in St. Lucia and across the Caribbean next month. Petrook foresaw a Windies win even though he is 1st Vice President of the Canadian Cricket Association (CCA) which is mounting a full team itself.
Chatting at the weekend on the “International Sports Report” on The FAN 590 Sports Radio in Canada, Petrook said if the people in the West Indies get behind the team in a positive way, the atmosphere will be unbelievable. “I don’t think there’ll ever be a World Cup with its excitement and fan atmosphere … I pick the West Indies to win the World Cup,” he told listeners in the Toronto metro area.
Dr. Ernest Hilaire, Chief Executive Officer of Cricket World Cup, St. Lucia Inc., talking cricket on Canadian radio.
Also appearing on the popular radio show was Dr. Ernest Hilaire, Chief Executive Officer of Cricket World Cup, St. Lucia Inc., who suggested that defending champs and cricket powerhouse Australia may be dethroned in the West Indies. “In terms of raw talent, pound for pound, the West Indies is probably the best team, but they need to cross over certain psychological barriers – the discipline, the application and the consistency,” Dr. Hilaire recommended.
From left: Alex Seixeiro, Peter Irvine, St. Lucia’s Director of Tourism, Maria Fowell; Dr. Ernest Hilaire, and Howard Petrook of the Canadian Cricket Association
The cricket executive also added that the home advantage ought to be exploited by the West Indian cricketers. “We have some tremendous players, so if they decide to take the world stage by the scruff of the neck, we are going to win the World Cup. I genuinely believe that, the question is consistency.”
Dr. Hilaire was in town for a special “Farewell Dinner” on Sunday, held in support of the Canadian cricket team which bats against Kenya, New Zealand and England in the first round of the competition in St. Lucia from March 14 to 24, 2007. St. Lucia also hosts one of the semifinals of the World Cup on April 25.
Dr. Ernest Hilaire (center) with sports anchors Alex Seixeiro (left) and Peter Irvine.
A well-prepared Canadian squad, which includes several Caribbean immigrants, will be led by John Davison and Ashish Bagai (vice captain). The remaining members are Qaiser Ali, Geoffery Barnett, Umar Bhatti, Ian Bilcliff, Desmond Chumney, Austin Codrington, George Codrington, Anderson Cummins, Sunil Dhaniram, Asif Mulla, Henry Osinde, Abdool Samad and Kevin Sandher.
The West Indies team will be captained by Brian Lara and the squad includes Ramnaresh Sarwan (vice captain), Ian Bradshaw, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Corey Collymore, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Devon Smith, Dwayne Smith, Jerome Taylor.
In St. Lucia, tickets were still available for the first round matches, while the semifinal, which will attract 20,000 spectators, had already been “sold out” in the public ticketing phase, with tickets only available through the purchase of packages from official tour operators (www.cricketlogistics.com) and from the Corporate Hospitality programme ([email protected]).
Besides St. Lucia, the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 will be held in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago. St. Vincent and the Grenadines will host a number of the warm-up matches.
