‘Zimbabwe can upset Pakistan, India’

HARARE: Former Zimbabwe skipper Alistair Campbell feels that Zimbabwe possesses the potential to beat strong Pakistan and India teams on their way to secure a World Cup quarter-final berth.

“The match against Ireland is crucial to our chances of progressing, but we will have to beat Pakistan or India, too. It is not impossible far from it. But we will have to find a way of limiting the damage in the final overs. The best way, of course, is to take more early wickets,” wrote Campbell in his exclusive column for the ICC.

“Our batting has been a problem area for a number of years so it has been a pleasure and relief to see it functioning well enough to register scores of 280-plus in the matches against South Africa, UAE and the West Indies,” he added.

Zimbabwe in the ongoing showpiece put up significant resistance before going down against South Africa and the West Indies while beating an adamant UAE.

“Zimbabwe will have a daunting task to beat defending champions India, who have an immaculate campaign as of yet, beating Pakistan and one of tournament favourites South Africa.

“But Zimbabwe would be looking for a scalp of under-performing Pakistan, when the two sides meet on March 1,” he said.

“If they pull victories against associates Ireland, who are performing well and beat lacklustre Pakistan, then there will be a chance for the side to make it to the quarters from pool ‘B’,” Campbell wrote.—Agencies

Warne comments disturbing Aussies: Waugh

SYDNEY: Steve Waugh reckons former team-mate Shane Warne’s recent comments would have had an unsettling effect on Australia’s World Cup squad.

Warne recently claimed Cricket Australia officials “tried to break” good friend Michael Clarke during the captain’s recovery from hamstring surgery.

Last weekend, the legendary leg-spinner noted coach Darren Lehmann must be careful and ensure Clarke is running the team.

It looms as an unwanted distraction for Australia, who face New Zealand in a crunch clash at Auckland’s Eden Park on Saturday.

“It’s definitely unsettling for the team,” Waugh told News Corp Australia. “I think they’ve gone beyond the chuckle point for this one.

“There’s a lot of comments and then retraction of comments ... ‘I didn’t say this, didn’t mean it that way’. At the end of the day it’s something the team doesn’t need.”

Mark Waugh and Matthew Hayden have also questioned the antics of former team-mate Warne.

The situation is complicated by the fact Warne is close with both Clarke and Lehmann.—Agencies

Chatara chided for Gayle beamers

SYDNEY: Zimbabwe seamer Tendai Chatara was reprimanded by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday for bowling two successive dangerous deliveries at West Indies record breaker Chris Gayle in their World Cup clash.

The incident happened in the 50th over of the West Indies innings at Canberra’s Manuka Oval on Tuesday when Chatara bowled a second consecutive high, full-pitched ball to Gayle, after being given a first and final warning by on-field umpire Ian Gould after his previous delivery.

The fast bowler was hauled out of the attack as a result and reported to the ICC match referee for dangerous and unfair bowling.

“In determining the sanction, I took into account the mitigating factor of the wet ball which could have resulted in the bowler not being able to have complete control of the deliveries,” said match referee Roshan Mahanama who handed out the reprimand.

Gayle smashed a World Cup record 215 in the West Indies’ 73-run win on Tuesday.—AFP

Tharanga replaces injured Mendis

MELBOURNE: Opening batsman Upul Tharanga will join Sri Lanka at the Cricket World Cup as a replacement for injured all-rounder Jeevan Mendis.

The International Cricket Council approved the replacement after Mendis injured a hamstring at training on Tuesday.

“Unfortunately, Jeevan is out for two to three weeks,” Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said. “Upul is expected to arrive tonight [Wednesday] but we have yet to decide if we will play him or not against Bangladesh.”

Sri Lanka will play Bangladesh in Melbourne on Thursday in their third match in Pool A. They lost to New Zealand in their opening match but beat Afghanistan on Sunday.

The 30-year-old Tharanga has played 176 One-day Internationals scoring 5,339 runs at an average of 33.57 with 13 centuries and 28 half centuries. He played his most-recent ODI against India in November.—AP

Watson admits battling crunch time

AUCKLAND: Shane Watson admitted he was facing ‘crunch time’ with the bat as he battled to stay in Australia’s side ahead of their World Cup clash with co-hosts New Zealand.

In the midst of Australia’s thumping 111-run opening pool win over England in Melbourne, all-rounder Watson was dismissed by paceman Stuart Broad for a golden duck.

His exit reignited the long-running debate about Watson’s worth to Australia and the 33-year-old’s cause was not helped when Australia’s second Pool ‘A’ game against Brisbane last weekend was washed out without a ball bowled.

“It’s crunch time for me to score runs in general,” Watson said Wednesday, when asked if he needed a score against New Zealand to keep his place in the side.

“I’m doing everything I possibly can. I just want to score runs and I know it doesn’t always go exactly to plan as well.”

Shafiqullah drafted into Afghan squad

DUNEDIN: Afghanistan all-rounder Mirwais Ashraf is suffering from a side strain he picked up in the match against Sri Lanka and has been replaced by Shafiqullah Shafiq in the World Cup squad, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old Ashraf was part of the Afghanistan team that suffered losses against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Wicket-keeper/batsman Shafiqullah, 25, has played 10 One-day Internationals for Afghanistan, who will play fellow ICC associate member Scotland in their third match of the tournament in Dunedin on Thursday.

Published in Dawn February 26th , 2015

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