KINGSTON (Jamaica), Feb 21: Less than 48 hours after the India-West Indies warm-up match gets over at the Trelawny Stadium here, over 2,000 people on March 11 will take part in the grand opening ceremony of the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

It will be India’s second and final warm-up match before the team open their World Cup campaign against Bangladesh on March 17 at Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain.

The rehearsals for the opening ceremony in Montego Bay are in full swing and the police are putting final touches to grand prelude to the ninth edition of the World Cup. “It will be a challenge but we will have to work around warm-up schedule,” said Martin Lewis, manager opening ceremony, of the little time available.

“As soon as that match (March 9) is over, a technical team of 300 persons will work from Friday night, on installation, right through to the opening ceremony. This will be the largest stage and sound set-up in the Caribbean,” he added.

It is the first time the World Cup is being held in the West Indies, which had won two titles -- in 1975 and 1979 in England.

Meanwhile, Police Assistant Commissioner Owen Ellington said the opening ceremony will require a high level of security, due to logistics of transporting large number of performers and technical crew to and from Kingston.—Agencies