The memories of Pakistan’s victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup flash across the nation as the euphoria for the next month’s battle for cricket honours nears. Many, though are still unaware of Pakistan’s fluke entry in the semi-final leading the demoralized team to rise to the occasion and clinch the glittering cup after defeating England.
Pakistan’s recent drubbing at the hands of South Africa leaves a bad taste in the mouth and fully exposes the weaknesses that could hinder team’s progress in the tough competition ahead. The cricket controlling authorities’ planning for the squad seem to be flawed as the captain Waqar Younis arrived in the country just ten days ahead of team’s departure for South Africa on January 24.
On paper, Pakistan’s outfit has enough potential to perform a World Cup encore but it is on rare occasions that this strength is converted into consistency on the field for achieving the best results. The most worrying factor is the brittleness of Pakistan’s middle order batters who crashed in South Africa under pressure. But critics attribute the defeats to lack of imagination on the part of Waqar Younis who was said to be devoid of the ‘killer instinct’. The South African batting was let off the hook on a number of occasions when Pakistan was in sight of victory. And then it was the Australian speedsters who crushed Pakistan in the three-test series, sending them to their lowest totals on the placid wicket of Sharjah.
One cannot still write off the strong Pakistani lineup that may pull up another surprise. World teams are still cautious when facing Pakistan, and go out in the field untie a popular tag Handle with caret. The cricket gurus think the players will be preparing for the Cup as a campaign that has to be more like a metamorphosis. Their morals have to be given a boost and they have to go to South Africa with an invigorated team spirit. Players have to realize that they have to play under Waqar Younis and therefore must adapt to his tactics whether productive or unimaginative.
Pakistani players have enough incentive to reach the top. Apart from the $2million prize money, a fat purse of $90,000 for each has been announced by the Pakistan Cricket Board. And as has been witnessed before, their victory in the World Cup will bring lucrative awards and honour from the local businessmen, as well as by the leading multinational organizations. But rightly so, the chief selector, Waseem Bari, is of the view that the best possible team has been picked, while pleading that all they need is the backing of the nation. The team requires support, motivation and a boost in confidence, he opines. At this stage, when no changes are possible, one should wait and assess the performance instead of hurling a premature criticism at them.
Of the fifteen selected, eleven have previously played the World Cup. Besides, there are fourteen boys who are playing or have played in the recent tour to South Africa. The only newcomers to the squad are Saeed Anwar and Azhar Mahmood.
The Pakistan team is a combination of youth and experience, and it is capable of excelling in the World Cup despite a recent run of poor form. But it is still believed that the form is temporary and the class is permanent and there is no denying the fact that the team has plenty of class and natural flair.
As far as speculations are concerned the Australians are obviously favourites with odds 15/8 and South Africa at number two with 813. You can’t get a price on whether the two sides will come up with the kind of cliffhanger they managed at Edgbaston in the semi-final last time, but at this stage they’re certainly the two most-fancied teams.
There’s nothing to choose, at the moment, between the subcontinent’s fiercest rivals, India and Pakistan. Both on offer at 13/2. A tense and fierce clash is expected between those two sides at Centurion on March 1.
The third Asian contestant, Sri Lanka, at 911, is rated as more strong than England, who comprehensively had the better of them in the NatWest triangular series earlier this year. Surprisingly England is priced more generously at 12/1, ahead of New Zealand, who beat them 3-2 when the two teams last met, but is, nonetheless, seen as the dark horse at 14/1.
On current form, the West Indies (20/1) looks tempting given their recent 4-3 triumph over India. Of the realistic competitors they are at the bottom of the list, which is probably fair, although the odds just might turn out to be overgenerous.
Amongst the probable, Zimbabwe (100/1) and Bangladesh (250/1) head the list. There is nothing to choose between three of the four non-Test nations — Holland, Kenya and Namibia, are all on offer at 500/1. And if you are intent on burning your money, why not take a chance on Canada? Bizarrely, they’re seen as half as likely to win the tournament as the other three — at the tidy price of 1000/1.
The World Cup squad
Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist (v.captain), Michael Bevan, Andy Bichel, Jason Gillespie, Mathew Hayden, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Darren Lehmann, Jimmy Maher, Damien Martyn, Glen McGrath, Andy Symonds, Shane Warne, Shane Watson.
Canada: Ashish Bagai, lan Billcliff, Desmond Chumney, Austin Codington, John Davison, Nicholas de Groot, Joseph Harris, Nicholas, Davies Joseph, Ishwar mairaj, Ashish Patel, Abdul Samad, Fazil Samad, Barry Sabaran, Sanjayan Thuraisingam.
England: Nasser Hussain, James Anderson, lan Blackwell, Andrew Caddick, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles, Stephen Harmison, Mathew Hoggard Ronnie Irani, Nick Night, Alec Stewart, Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Craig White.
Namibia: D.B. Kotze, A.J. Burger, S.F. Burger, M. Karg, D. Keulder, B.L. Kotze, J.L. Louw, B.G. Murgatroyd, G. Snyman, S.J. Swanepoil, B.O. Vanroci, M.van Schoor, R. J.van Vuuren, R. Walters.
Netherland: R.P. Lefebvre, L.P. Vantroost, D.L.S van Bunge, J.J. Esmeijer, V.D. Grandia, J. Kloppenburg, T.B.M. de Leede, H.J.C. Mol. K.J.J. van Noortwijk, Adeel Raja, E. SchiferJi, R.H. Scholte, J. Smits, N.A. Statham, B. Zuiderent.
New Zeland: Stephen Fleming, Andre Adams, Nathan Astle, Shane Bond, Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Brendon McCuilum, Craig McMillan, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Mathew Sinclair, Scott Styrus, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori, Lou Vincent.
South Africa: Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher, Nicky Boje, Boeta Dippenaar, Allan Donald, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis, Gary Kirsten, Lance Klusener, Charl Langeveldt, Makhaya Ntini, Robin Peterson, Jonty Rhodes, Monde Zondeki.
West lndies: Carl Hooper, Ridley Jacobs, Shiv Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Mervyn Dillon, Vashert Drakes, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Brian Lara, Jermaine Lawson, Nixon McLean, Ricardo Powell, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan.
Zimbabwe: Heath Streak, Andy Blignaut, Dion Ebrahim, Sean Ervine, Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Travis Friend, Douglas T. Hondo, Douglas Marillier, Brian Murphy, Henry Olonga, Talenda Talbu, Mark Verrneulen, Guy Whittall, Craig Wishart.
According to the format of the 8th World Cricket Cup, each team will play every other team in its pool. Points will be allocated for each match in accordance with the system that awards four points for a victory, two for a tie or no result and no points for a loss.
After completion of pool matches, the top three teams in each pool will qualify for the Super Six phase. When two teams have both equal points and wins, the team which is the winner of the most number of matches played between them will be placed in the higher position, when deciding who is to go ahead for the semi-finals. If there is no outcome on equal points, the final factor will be the net-run rate for qualifying for a berth in the semi-final. If a semi-final is tied, then the team finishing higher in the pool matches will qualify for the final.
The memories of Pakistan’s victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup flash across the nation as the euphoria for the next month’s battle for cricket honours nears. Many, though are still unaware of Pakistan’s fluke entry in the semi-final leading the demoralized team to rise to the occasion and clinch the glittering cup after defeating England.
