Cricket World Cup: get padded up!

Cricket is, according to the latest survey, the third most popular sport to watch in a pub behind football and rugby. More than 30 per cent said they enjoyed watching the Summer Game over a drink, a figure that had shot up an astonishing 16 per cent in the space of a year.

Unfortunately, the latest survey was carried out last June, when memories of England's 2005 Ashes triumph were still fresh and England's abject 2006 Ashes defeat was still a nightmare to come.

Quite how fickle the pub cricket fan is will be revealed during the sport's World Cup, 51 one-day internationals played out under the Caribbean sun starting March 13 and providing a live game on Sky pretty much every day until the final on April 28.

With the umpires walking out onto the square mid-afternoon British time and stumps being drawn on most contests around old-fashioned pub closing time, it couldn't provide a more perfect opportunity for licensees to reinvigorate their customers' enthusiasm.

While you can't do much about the way England are going to play, you are at least guaranteed a couple of weeks when they are competing, and if you know you have a group of die-hard cricket fans among your regulars they can form the core of a bigger audience.

As with any other big sporting event, you need to get the basics right and generate a bit of an atmosphere around it.

Make sure that your coverage is well-advertised, of course. Talk it up among your customers - there is always plenty to talk about when it comes to cricket - and display posters outside, too.

As matches go on for several hours, and it's likely you'll get people coming and going, catching a few overs here and there, rather than sitting through the whole thing, the atmosphere will be lower key than for other sports.

But you can still provide the cues to make viewing more sociable and more enjoyable even when there's not too much to get excited about on the pitch.

Caribbean themed food and drink is a good idea, either running as extras through the tournament or just for games you expect a good turnout for.

Remember this might not be only the England games. Scotland are playing, too, and you've probably got customers who will keenly follow other nations as well as the big clashes in the later stages, whoever is playing.