Behind the (World Cup) Scenes

The group stage of Cricket World Cup 2007 is now over, giving all who worked long days and nights a welcomed return to normal life.

Jamaica started the ball-a-rolling with the big clash between Pakistan and hosts West Indies on March 13, and on that morning, CaribbeanCricket.com wanted to find out how the organizers felt, after many many sleepless nights and last minute challenges. We also were curious as to what happens behind the scenes for matches like these

We spoke with Robert Bryan, CEO of the Jamaica Local Organizing Committee, Michael Hall, CWC's Cricket Operations Director and Jamaica LOC Event Manager Lisa O'Gilvie...

ROBERT BRYAN

On what happened behind the scenes prior to the start of the match...

This morning we got going from 5am. The lockdown of the venue took place from about 1:30am. It's a security measure to go through the stadium and make sure everything is safe and then following on that, we would have introduced all of the operational systems as we went along. Park & Ride operations went smoothly, the gates, all of that, so we are pretty pleased with what has taken place here today.

On how much sleep he has got in the last days leading up to the opening match...

Not a lot. Maybe I get a little bit more tonight. Actually I haven't got a lot since Saturday!

On what the LOC will be doing after the first match...

We will have a debrief and look at what we need to work on and plan through tomorrow and come back and do it again on Thursday. There were two important days, the Opening Ceremony and today and I think we have come through both of those days. By the time the semi finals come around, we should be in tip top shape.

MICHAEL HALL

On how he was feeling on that morning...

From CWC's perspective and certainly from mine, [and] purely from a cricket perspective, we couldn't be happier. The staff worked really hard yesterday, well more than yesterday, for a couple of days leading up to the game, but a lot of work last night. I myself left here at 10 last night. I was back here at 5:30 this morning. They really did a great job; the wickets in my view played well, maybe a little bit slow, but still, 241. The ground is full, things are running smoothly. From my perspective Michelle I am really really very pleased.

When the first ball was bowled this morning and Chris [Gayle] turned it away for a single, I kind of let out a sigh and said 'yes, the World Cup is underway.'

On what his role is during matches...

The biggest time for me Michelle is between 6:30am and 9:30am which is the start of play. There are lots of little administrative things that people maybe don't realize.

It's getting the team nomination sheet by a certain time, getting the manager to sign it. It's getting a team representative to go to Doping Control so that we can do the random draw for the dope test after the game. It's making sure that the team sheet is embargoed by Broadcast until after the toss. It's getting the two captains down there for the toss at the time that Broadcast wants them.

It's making sure that you can grab who the broadcasters tell me who they want for the flash interview at the innings break. It's getting that player and making sure he has on his match shirt, so it's the things that make what the fans see look neat and tidy and all the things that you have to do to make that happen.

Similarly, there are duties at the end of the match. There is a post-match flash interview on the field and then you have to get the captains across to the Media Centre and then when that is all done, then it's a quick debrief with the ground staff and let them know what's in store for them over the next couple of days.

LISA O'GILVIE

On how much sleep she's had in the last few days…

We are a bit bedraggled. I've had an hour's sleep. It's all a front [when I told her she didn't look any the worse for it]

On how she was feeling at that moment...

While you were sleeping, we got off to a rocky start because by 6am, we have a match day management meeting where all the heads of the functional groups come together and discuss the plans for the day and at 5:30am, there were still persons who were on the outside trying to get in.

There were some issues at the entrance but I guess the prep work paid off because very quickly people got into place and we were able to open the gates at 7:30am. It's been flowing quite smoothly. We have been having a couple of challenges with the turnstiles when you push the ticket in, but there is a Plan B and a ticket resolution system immediately there if your ticket is not recognized.

There is a process you can actually check and ensure that the security features are there, that it is the ticket for today so once the validity checks have gone through, then riping the ticket and sending the person through is agreed.

On what she was going to do after the match ended...

What do you think I'm going to do? Sleep! Actually it doesn't end for us today. The match finishes at 5.15pm, the Party Stand goes on for another 1.5 hours, there is the hospitality package that goes on for another 2 hours, so effectively the last patron is leaving here maybe about 8:30 – 9pm. The Park & Ride zone closes at about 10pm, security does a sweep of the venue at about 6:30pm to start moving spectators out, but the Fan Zone will be operating to stagger the departures.

We have our post-match meeting at about 7pm and really, the venue is not deactivated until about 9-10pm. Fortunately we have a little break because there is no match tomorrow; that don't mean we'll have nothing to do! We will have to have meetings to go through everything because there have been a lot of challenges, but thank God you guys aren't seeing all of that.

We dare not let you backstage!