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| October 30, 2001 | Tuesday | Shaba'an 12, 1422 |
Zimbabwe damaging Sharjah charm
SHARJAH, Oct 29: Zimbabwe face Sri Lanka in a key Champions Trophy clash here Tuesday, looking to salvage not only their reputation but the tournament itself.
The Africans have taken the sheen off the three-nation event by crashing to huge defeats at the hands of Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the first round of the preliminary league.
Another defeat Tuesday will render the rest of the league meaningless and keep the fans away till the title clash between Sri Lanka and Pakistan next Sunday.
“It’s now or never,” Zimbabwe’s newly-appointed captain Brian Murphy said Monday. “We have to prove to ourselves and the world that we are not so bad as the results suggest.”
Zimbabwe lost to Sri Lanka by 63 runs last Friday and were walloped by 106 runs by Pakistan Sunday, their 13th successive one-day defeat since June.
The 250,000-dollar event has so far generated little enthusiasm among the cricket-crazy Asian expatriates, with none of the three matches drawing full houses, a trademark of Sharjah events in the past.
It is no secret that India’s continued absence from the desert venue has hit the organisers where it hurts most — their pockets.
The Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS), which has organised one-day cricket in this Gulf emirate since 1981, failed to find a sponsor for the present tournament till a Dubai-based newspaper group bailed it out at the last minute.
With the Indian government declining permission to its national team to play in off-shore venues like Sharjah, Singapore and Toronto till 2003, the immediate future appears bleak for the organisers here.
To offset the absence of crowd-pulling matches between traditional rivals India and Pakistan, the CBFS signed up both Pakistan and Sri Lanka to appear regularly at Sharjah for atleast three years.
Last April, the two Asian powerhouses were joined by New Zealand, this time it is Zimbabwe and the Kiwis will be back when the next edition is held in April, 2002.
By staying away from matches, fans have clearly indicated that regular Pakistan-Sri Lanka matches don’t hold the same interest as a game between India and Pakistan.
“Sri Lanka is a good side but we wan’t to see Pakistan play India,” one Pakistani fan said. “They should try to get India back here.”
It is a demand the CBFS is unable to redress, even though it is doing its best to show the world — and India in particular — that cricket here is scandal-free.
The CBFS has taken steps to implement the recommendations of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) anti-corruption unit (ACU) and the CBFS’s own three-member panel headed by former West Indian captain Clive Lloyd.
Unwanted visitors have been kept away from the players’ hotel, all phone calls to players are monitored and mobile phones have been banned around the dressing rooms at the ground.
“We are doing all that the ICC wants us to do,” a CBFS official said.
The organisers, meanwhile, are awaiting the arrival later this week of ACU commissioner Paul Condon, who will watch the final stages of the tournament.
A good word from Condon, the CBFS hopes, will convince India to play again in Sharjah and bring back the crowds.—AFP
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