The Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Twenty20 World Cup yesterday unveiled a massive 20×4 bat with the logo ‘Bring it Guyana’ as part of its countrywide promotional campaign for the event which bowls off at the Guyana National Stadium on April 30.
It was a quiet but rather significant ceremony at the ‘S’ turn on the Rupert Craig Highway aback of the Russian Embassy.
The logo is the first of its kind to be placed around the Caribbean and, according to the event’s Promotions and Corporate Services Officer Sabrina Panday, two more of the special 20X4 bats would be placed in Guyana as part of the ICC’s crusade.
Minister of Sport Dr. Frank Anthony, who along with Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) president Chetram Singh did the honours of revealing the bat to the community, labelled the activity as historic and one that means a lot to the people of Guyana.
“Today (yesterday) is quite a significant day for us in Guyana as we prepare to host the opening ceremony of the World Cup. So I want to encourage persons to go out there and get their tickets, I think that they are about 50% gone, so just go out, get your tickets and let’s come out in our numbers in Guyana,” said the minister.
Singh also urged persons to purchase tickets and added that he too was glad that an event of such nature was taking place in Guyana.
Meanwhile, Panday told Stabroek Sport after the brief event that over 50% of the actual tickets were already sold and there were no more under-16 tickets which were free.
“Well actually, we don’t have no more under-16 tickets, because what happen was 10% of our total tickets were for the under-16 which we were giving away free upon purchase of a regular ticket. Also, for persons who purchased their tickets between November of last year and up to February 28th, we would be giving them some special commemorative tickets – it’s just our way of saying thanks. But people who purchase after would get the regular tickets,” Panday said.
She revealed that very soon, they would be launching a ‘Bring it’ bus tour which is aimed at intensifying their T20 World Cup sensitization drive.
“This actually would take place like close to the event, where we would go across Guyana and spread the fever of the game so persons can come out and bring their noise makers, their drums and you know. So we are looking to make this event unforgettable. Also we would be having a few cricket celebrities and artistes from around the Caribbean for this bus tour, so it’s going to be lots of fun,” Panday assured.
Four venues will be used for the showpiece event with Barbados, Guyana and St Lucia staging the men’s tournament and St Kitts hosting the women’s.
St Lucia and Barbados will host both the super eight and semi-finals along with the first round sets of matches, but the Kensington Oval was named the home of the finals for the male and female championships.
Guyanese will get a chance to witness the first round of matches in the tournament with all the West Indies matches.