THE Local Organising Committee for Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007 has continued to get commendations for Sunday’s opening ceremony for the international tournament, which began yesterday with host West Indies against Pakistan.

University of the West Indies professor emeritus, artistic director and choreographer Professor Rex Nettleford, said Sunday’s opening ceremony at Florence Hall in Trelawny was an occasion which has made the region proud.

Nettleford, in a letter to the Observer, said the region has shown its world- class ability to organise and execute with precision.

“The region’s pedigree as a centre of excellence for cricket has once again demonstrated that it is also a centre of excellence for world-class creative output.” Professor Nettleford wrote.

“. The hundreds who worked on the now historic opening deserved the region’s commendation and gratitude,” added the retired university professor.

Insurance executive Peter Thwaites also had praises for Sunday’s opening ceremony for Cricket World Cup.

“I thought that the opening ceremony was wonderful and I was proud to be Jamaican,” said Thwaites.

Thwaites wished two-time winners, the West Indies, who are hosting the championship for the first time, success as they attempt to win cricket’s most coveted prize, held by Australia.

Nettleford, an internationally acclaimed academic, also had a word for those who believed the Local Organisaing Committee was going to fail.

“The crew of workers on the opening deserve this country’s gratitude for the display of dedication and commitment against such odds as very serious budgetary constraints in particular and the ‘croomoging’ attitude of quite a few who were of a mind for it to fail.,” he wrote.

Naysayers, some apparently influenced by politics, had questioned government’s expenditure of $8 billion for the building of a new stadium and the refurbishment of Sabina Park.

The opening ceremony, which was put on at a cost of approximately US$2 million, featured talents and acts from across the Caribbean, as well as international acts.

Said Professor Nettleford: “We should now settle down and wish the West Indies team well, the game of cricket, even more so, and genuinely hope that the stadium at greenfield, like the one in Kingston which had its detractors in its time, will work to the benefit of our people all over the country.”

Sixteen teams are vying for the coveted Cricket World Cup, being held across nine islands of the Caribbean.