Vic Marks's verdict on the Opening Ceremony: "Cricket World Cup rides into Dhaka on a rickshaw."
And the Opening Ceremony is over. You can see the ICC's Twitter feed of the event here.
Bryan Adams is finally on-stage, opening with... Summer of 69, of course.
The World Cup captains have gathered together in their best bib and tucker for their pre-tournament ICC photo. (Via @cricketicc)
Highlights of the opening ceremony show that an awful lot of bicycles were part of the event. And some elephants, both real and models. Andrew Strauss seemed to enjoy his rickshaw ride more than Ricky Ponting.
A guide to the 2011 Cricket World Cup
• Interactive guide to all the venues
• All over by over reports will appear here, beginning with India v Bangladesh on Saturday
Please share interesting and useful links below. Thanks. And make your predictions, please.
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Some great moments from previous World Cups can be found in today's Classic Youtube blog.
And here is Mike Selvey: "Why I'm not sorry to miss cricket World Cup's opening ceremony in Dhaka."
On the cricket front, here are team by team guides to all 14 competitors, written by Andy Bull and Andy Wilson.
Here is a promo for the Opening Ceremony.
Is anybody actually watching it live?
According to otmshank on Rob Bagchi's "World Cup needs classic moments – not Bryan Adams – to be a hit" blog yesterday:
don't diss Bryan Adams. No self respecting Indian college party is complete without a rendition of Summer of '69!
Why this is so, will be an eternal mystery.
Enjoy
The Opening Ceremony of the 2011 Cricket World Cup is less than an hour away. Although Sky TV is not showing the event in the UK, there are plenty of places around the world where you will be able to see Bryan Adams and famous Indian singer Sankor perform.
Sankor will be singing the official tournament song, Jitbe Ebar Jitbe Cricket.
The first match will be Bangladesh v India on Saturday. Rob Smyth and co will cover that match (and many, many more) live.
This blog will be updated through today with links to the best World Cup 2011 previews and coverage, plus updates from the opening event in Dhaka.
Please share your thoughts about the Opening Ceremony and the tournament ahead below.