Best opener in the game

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Sunday's opening ceremony of the 2007 World Cup was a magnificent success with the cricket playing islands of the Caribbean concentrating on what binds their very different nations together, apart from cricket, which is music and dance.

Check out Neil's video clips from the Caribbean

There were speeches, and rightly, but instead of rambling odes of self-indulgence, they were snappy and relevant. Sir Garry Sobers was wonderful and, as usual, humble amidst the reverence afforded him in these parts, and the many 'other' facets of the production were either amusing, quixotic or merely greatly enjoyable.

But it was basically a festival of music and dance - a history of reggae in Jamaica and the other islands - in which South Africa was honoured with two cameo performances by the innovative drummers from Drum Café and a typically brilliant performance by Lucky Dube.

Stick to what you do best, and nothing too bad can go wrong. Even the fireworks (compulsory to functions like this) were kept to a sensible number and, consequently, worked perfectly. More is less. It was a fabulous night for everyone, from fans to organisers and players.

"The opening ceremony is when it really sunk in, you're playing in the World Cup and representing your country. I had to walk around on the day pinching myself to remind me that it was real and that it was actually happening," said Andre Nel. "Everywhere you turned there were famous faces, from the past and the present, so it was a bit dreamlike. You have to pinch yourself but, at the same time, you are representing your country and there's a job to be done, a hard and important job," said Nel.

Another one doing a bit of 'pinching' was AB de Villiers who was astonished to hear that several bookmakers had installed him as joint favourite - along with Australia's Michael Clarke and the West Indies' Chris Gayle - to finish the tournament as top run scorer.

"What?" exclaimed De Villiers. "That's the first I've heard of that. I'm just happy to be here. It's been a long build-up but now the action is about to start and that's why we're here. It's so exciting - the opening ceremony is where it all started becoming 'real'. As a team we have the self-belief and mental strength to do well but we're not thinking too far ahead because there's a lot of very good teams here," De Villiers said.

Justin Kemp, remarkably, is on his fourth tour of the Caribbean having featured in an SA 'A' tour as well as the senior tours of 2001 and 2005 but his familiarity with conditions has not bred contempt or over-confidence.

"It's my first World Cup and, although we have tried to keep things as simple as possible and keep doing what we have been doing for the last couple of years, the things that helped us get to number one in the world, it's tough because this is the biggest stage in the game. It's exciting - very exciting - but we are keeping our feet on the ground and trying to concentrate on each stage of the tournament," Kemp said.

The week of warm-up matches did not pass without stumbles and errors, but none were unduly serious. The opening ceremony was an absolute treat. If it serves as an omen for the tournament itself, it may well live up to its organisers' dream of being "the best World Cup yet staged".