Detailed Information of Opening Ceremony of Twenty20 World Cup 2009

ICC Twenty20 world cup 2009 is now knocking at the door. This prime event of t20 format will go underway with England vs Netherlands match taking place on 5 June (Friday). The match kicks off at 16:30 GMT (17:30 Local Time) at Lord’s, after the completion of the much-awaited opening ceremony. The sad part is that, I could not find enough information regarding the opening ceremony of the tournament after spending few hours in searching about the opening ceremony in internet. It reminds me of the IPL 2009 opening ceremony which was a flop show as there was no information about it prior to the event and millions of cricket fans did not even know when it would take place.

Timing and Venue of Opening Ceremony of Twenty20 World Cup 2009

Opening ceremony will start at 15:30 GMT and at 21:00 IST (Indian Standard Time). The event will take place at Lord’s Cricket Ground where the opening match of the tournament will also take place after the opening ceremony. According to Bangladesh time, opening ceremony will be held at 21:30.

What You Can Expect in the Opening Ceremony of ICC World Twenty20 2009

I am sorry to say that I do not have any exact information regarding the opening ceremony of twenty20 world cup 2009 which I can share with you. However, I can guess that it will be a colorful event in the presence of English prime minister or any other high official from England government. Moreover, there could be some colorful displays by professional entertainers. Cricket fans can also expect that there will have some acrobatic show, but I do not think that you could experience any fire works because the opening ceremony will be held before the sun set. The opening ceremony and the opening game will be shown live on Star Cricket TV Channel. One source suggests that pop-singer Aleesha Dixon will be singing to entertain the cricket fans at Lord’s, which is known as the Mecca of Cricket.

ECB and Opening Ceremony

Well, I am really disappointed to know that the tournament organizers did not pay any heed to inform the cricket fans regarding the opening ceremony of the tournament. It seems that they are following the footstep of IPL organizers.

Twenty20 is the most popular form of the game at this moment and twenty20 world cup is the most prestigious event based on the shortest form of the game. No doubt, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) should feel proud that they are assigned to host the event this year ahead of South Asia, the largest market of cricket. Still, ECB does not seem to be very serious about the opening ceremony of such a big tournament.

ECB has the past history to present the cricket fans with flop opening ceremonies. England was the organizer of 1999 ICC World Cup and 2004 ICC Champions Trophy, and on both occasions, ECB was criticized for delivering a poor opening ceremony which irked the cricket fans. I hope cricket fans would not see the repetition of the past this time round, but the way ECB is going, it seems they are determined to stick to their reputation of delivering flop opening ceremonies.

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Kevin Pietersen: Not Good in Twenty20 Format?

Well, do not blame me for the title because this is not my statement. To your surprise, the statement was made by hard-hitter English batsman Kevin Pietersen himself. To be honest, I also got shocked when I first found the statement made by the batsman. In fact, I think, Kevin Pietersen should be among the top ten batsmen of twenty20 cricket.

However, Kevin Pietersen has recently said that he is not good at twenty20 cricket because he did no play many matches in twenty20 format. He thinks that the more one will play in the shortest version of the game the better he would become in this format of the game. You might be surprised to know that Kevin Pietersen has been the most costly cricketer in IPL 2009, even though he played just few games for Bangalore Royal Challengers. However, he has also indicated that he has made some theories which he would implement in the coming twenty20 internationals and he is hopeful that his performance in twenty20 format would improve in future.

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Shoaib Akhtar Unhappy over Exclusion from T20 World Cup Squad

Shoaib Akhtar is reportedly pretty much upset for bring dropped from Pakistan’s twenty20 world cup squad after the medical panel of the board reported that the bowler was suffering from Genital Viral Warts. However, Shoaib Akhtar is now going to challenge PCB on their decision to exclude him from the twenty20 world cup squad by participating in the national tywenty20 championship which starts from 25 May in Lahore.

A source said that Shoaib Akhtar might talk to media in this regard very soon. The pacer missed lot of cricket action over the last couple of years due to series of off-field problems and injury. No doubt, it is really very disappointing for Shoaib Akhtar that he has been ruled out of twent20 world cup 2009.

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Paul Collingwood to Lead England in ICC World Twenty20 2009

It has been quite sometime, England cricket fans were eagerly waiting to know who is the man to lead England in the upcoming world twenty20 2009 which is all set to begin from 5 June. Well, it has now been reported that Paul Collingwood, who resigned as England’s ODI captain nine months ago, would once again lead England and that would be during England’s Twenty20 world cup mission on home soil.

Paul Collingwood resignation as ODI captain was almost at the same time when Michael Vaughan also resigned as test captain during England’s home series against South Africa last year. Though Collingwood said that it was his form for which he walked out of England captaincy, his conflict with the then coach Peter Moores could be the background reason of resigning from England’s ODI captaincy.

There were many who got surprised when the news came out that Collingwood accepted the Twent20 captaincy of England team in the upcoming ICC World Twenty20 2009 tournament. It has been reported that England’s new permanent coach Andy Flower persuaded Paul Collingwood to take up England’s twenty20 captaincy.

Paul Collingwood represented England in 46 tests, scoring 3247 runs and taking 14 wickets. In 159 ODI matches, Collingwood has 3884 runs and 89 wickets. The all rounder played 15 twenty20 internationals so far in which he scored 344 runs and picked up 13 wickets.

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