Cricket World Cup kicks off across Caribbean

By Kevin Hilton
SVG European correspondent
The Cricket World Cup began today in Jamaica with hosts
the West Indies taking on Pakistan. The competition involves the
world’s leading cricketing nations, including England, India and South
Africa, and countries less identified with the sport, such as Canada,
the Netherlands and Ireland, and is being staged at venues around the
Caribbean, calling for a massive logistical effort by the host
broadcaster and its facilities suppliers.

The other countries hosting matches are St Vincent and the
Grenadines, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, St Lucia,
Antigua and Barbuda and St Kitts and Nevis. To cover these four
fly-away systems have been shipped out and are being flown, along with
the crews, between the venues by charter planes.

Equipment for match coverage is being supplied by UK hire and
facilities company Video Europe, which is contracted to production
house Century Television, which in turn is contracted to the Global
Cricket Corporation (GCC), part of the Murdoch empire. Presentation
equipment is provided by another British company, CTV OBs.

Each match is being covered by 26 cameras, mostly Sony and including
stump-cams and close-ups of run-outs. Microphones are fitted behind the
stumps for the “Snick-o-meter”, which determines whether the ball made
contact with the bat, and Hawkeye is being used for analysis.

The output is in standard definition widescreen as there is no
demand from the host broadcaster at this time for high definition.
Richard Lamont of Video Europe observed that the coverage was much like
Sky’s cricket productions, only without the HD component, and that the
real challenge was getting the fly-away systems, each consisting of
around 15 tonnes of kit, around the different venues.

The Cricket World Cup Final is scheduled to be played at Kensington Oval in Barbados on April 28.