Cricket: World Cup 2011 Mascot Competition
The build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup has begun as the International Cricket Council announces a new competition for the fans of the game. The competition is to give a name to the mascot of the tournament which is an elephant.
The aim of the move is to encourage fans to participate in the fanfare for the showcase event of the ICC held every four years.
The tournament is set to be staged in the sub-continent with former champions http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 as the hosts of the event.
In a press release the ICC unveiled, the new competition that is set to attract cricket enthusiasts especially kids from all over the world.
The press release states that the governing body of the game has come up with a novel idea of creating awareness and popularizing their flagship event.
The fans can play a part in the tournament by giving a name to the mascot, and hope that their suggestion is chosen as the official name for the World Cup elephant.
Fans have been advised to make their suggestions during the ongoing week, as the competition runs between 20 to 27 July.
The governing body of the game in collaboration with the organizers of the tournament will reveal the winning name of the mascot at a launch in Colombo, which will mark ‘200 days to go’ to the first match of the fifty-over Cricket World Cup 2011.
The 10th edition of the most prestigious fifty-over tournament would start in February with the opening match to be played in Dhaka on 19 February 2011. The tournament will last more than a month and end in India with the final to be staged in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 on 2 April 2011.
This is the third time that the tournament is being staged in the sub-continent the first World cup was co-hosted by India and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in 1987, followed by the 1996 World cup jointly staged by Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka.
The third edition was originally set to be co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh but Pakistan was stripped of hosting rights due to the volatile security situation in the country. Especially, after a terror strike on the Sri Lankan cricket team that left five touring cricketers with minor bullet injuries.
ICC meanwhile hopes that they succeed in generating enough interest in the event after the fifty-over format’s popularity went down considerably after the advent of the T20 format.
Another major concern is the saturation of global events since the 2006 ICC Champions trophy as many as five global events have been staged in T20 and fifty-over varieties.
These include three T20 World championship, two Champions trophies and one fifty over World cup.
With a plethora of these competitions many cricketing experts feel that the fans of the game might not feel a great deal of excitement for the 2011 World cup, hence the ICC needs to introduce some novel ways of keeping interest alive in One-Day-Internationals.
Here is a list of some of the key characteristics of the elephant, the mascot for the 2011 World cup:
Young, enthusiastic and determined
Thinks cricket is the most fun game in the world
Loves playing street cricket – would play 24/7 if he could
Worships his cricket heroes, their technique, skill and character
Understands there is a lot to learn, work’s hard at it, step by step
Learning to master the art of concentration
Dreams of playing in the ICC Cricket World Cup…one day
Age: 10 (human years)
Tags: