St Kitts and Nevis are basking in the glory of hosting the World Cup even if it means finding themselves at the centre of a high-stakes, geo-political game.

The Warner Park Stadium here, which will stage matches involving world champions Australia as well as world number one South Africa, was built with a 12 million dollar donation from Taiwan who are battling to maintain their regional influence which is slowly being eaten away by the Chinese.

China has ploughed millions of dollars into the new stadia in Grenada and Antigua, which will stage second round matches, as well as Jamaica.

Taiwan, desperate to maintain its political alliances in the Caribbean, responded by financing the venue here as well as the warm-up facilities on St Vincent.

"On behalf of the government I thank Taiwan for their support in making this venue ready," Denzil Douglas, the prime minister of St Kitts and Nevis, told AFP.

"We look forward to hosting the top teams and I have no doubt in my mind that with a lot of hard work we have made ourselves ready for the World Cup."

Australia open their title defence against the minnows of Scotland here on Wednesday.

The islands, which won their independence from the British in 1983, produced former West Indies international Keith Arthurton and current star Runako Morton.

It hosted its first one-day international against India in May last year when a public holiday was declared.

The minister for sports and tourism Ricky Skerritt believes his country's elevation to hosting World Cup games represents a major achievement.

"The World Cup means everything as St. Kitts does not have a history of cricket. To elevate us from hosting India last year to having Australia and South Africa is great," said Skerritt, a former West Indian team manager.

"Even though the West Indies is not playing here, the ticket sales has been fairly good, some 50-percent for smaller matches (Netherlands makes up Group A) and a virtual sell-out for Australia-South Africa match on March 24."

Some 3000-4000 Australians and South Africans are expected to descend on the ground for that crucial game.

Among the already arrived is Michael Brown, general manager of operations at Cricket Australia.

"It's exciting to be here. A lot of tours have been taking Australians to St Kitts and we hope it provides them great moments," said Brown.

Scots and Dutch are here in numbers.

"Around 100 Scots have arrived and with the Dutch island, St Martin so close, we also expect the Dutchs to come and watch cricket," said Charles Wilkin, the chairman of the local organising committee.

English involvement here is also significant.

The ground is named after Sir Thomas Warner, founder of the first English settlement here in the 1600s.

However, not everyone is happy.

"We wanted the West Indies to play here. St Kitts should have hosted the West Indies or India, but still it's something to cheer about," said taxi driver Alex Isaac.

(Article: Copyright © 2007 AFP)