We did it three and a half years ago for our favourite winter sport – now Nelson is preparing to embrace another world cup, this time for our top summer code
This Saturday, the Cricket World Cup will officially start in Christchurch and Nelson is getting right behind the action with the Nelson 111 Cricket Street Party taking over upper Trafaglar St.
In 2011, the same space was the venue for hundreds of Nelsonians as they watched the All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup and many will be hoping to watch the Blackcaps get off to the best possible start to the Cricket World Cup in the same place.
The street party will include food and drink stalls, activities for kids and a giant bigscreen for people to watch the game, and will run from 10am until 6pm.
Just down the road the annual Market Day will mean most of Trafalgar St will be in party mode for most of Saturday.
On Sunday the city will attempt to set a new world record for the most number of people “doing the Nelson,” at Trafalgar Park from 11.30am.
The “Nelson” is a cricketing superstition, referring to team or individual scores of 111, thought to refer to Lord Nelson’s lost eye, arm and unknown third appendage at the battle of Trafalgar. Tradition states that 111 is an unlucky score, so to mitigate that standing on one leg or, if you are sitting taking both feet off the ground, is supposed to prevent disaster until the score moves on. The current record is held in England, where 2276 people stood on one leg simultaneously.
On Monday, the action switches to Saxton Oval where the West Indies will play Ireland from 10am. It will be the first of three Cricket World Cup games to be played in Nelson.
Cricket World Cup venues project manager, Markus Erdmann, says the game is sold out and the ground is looking a picture. “It will look even better than the recent [Blackcap] game because so much more effort has gone into it, being a world cup game.”
Deputy mayor Paul Matheson says the games will provide great exposure for the region.
