ISLAMABAD, Feb 1 (AFP): The 1996 cricket World Cup will be remembered as the most controversial showpiece in the sport's history, even before a single ball has been bowled.
The tournament, staged by Pakistan. India and Sri Lanka, opens in Calcutta on February 11 before a backdrop of cheating allegations, player death threats, a television row. sectarian taunts, a mass tragedy and last but not least a corruption scandal.
If the cricket can live up to the front-page headlines, fans are in for a very highly-charged few weeks.
The stories of cheating date back to 1994, in an episode that has badly tarnished the sport's reputation for gentlemanly fair-play.
Australian players Shane Warne, probably the best-known bowler in the world. Tim May and Mark Waugh claimed they were offered money by Pakistani captain Salim Malik to throw a game.
The scandal threatened to rival the scale of the 1930s bodyltne furore as the International Cricket Council, the sport's governing body, ruled it did not have the power to investigate, the Australians refused to go to Pakistan for an inquiry and Malik was exonerated.
Pakistani Judge Fakhrud-din Ebrahim, betraying the diplomatic skills of Genghis Khan on a bad day. threw further oil onto the raging flames by suggesting the alle-gations had been "concocted."
The gross failure to sort out the affair will leave bitterness and resentment bubbling away throughout the World Cup next month and
leave the Australian' squad, favourites for the title, fearing for their safety.
The threats to the team with fast bowler Craig McDermott reportedly promised a "diet of handgrenades” and Warne receiving a batch of hate mail from the sub-continent raised emotions still further as speculation mounted some players might refuse to take part in the Cup.
Australian Cricket Board chief executive Graham Hal-bish said: "In my experience this is the most threatening situation we have encountered because it has become personal... I still believe there is genuine cause for concern.
"You can't ignore the fact that some players have been threatened and in a very aggressive manner." ,
Things have not been handled much better off the pitch either.
With a few days to go to the event, a row over television rights in India between the government and the organisers was still unresolved, raising the prospect that the country’s 17 matches would have to be switched to Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
That impasse was not helped by suggestions Indian federal minister Madhavrao Scindia, the head of India-Pakistan-Sri Lanka World Cup organising committee, could be facing corruption charges.
Add the tragic deaths of 12 cricket spectators in November last year after a wall collapsed at the Nagpur venue and warnings by Hindu militant leader Bal Thackeray that Pakistani players would not be allowed in India and you have a fairly dramatic stage for a sporting extravaganza.
The crick'd itself, of course, is not the real thing, or so the purists would argue.
The one-day game, with its coloured pajamas instead of traditional whites, is the pop version of the game, its 50 overs a short sprint compared to the genuine article, the five-day Test match.
Pop', however, stands for popular, and the one-day game has built up a massive following, particularly in Asia.
. Of the 12 countries taking part. Australia who have also had a blazing row with Sri Lanka after an umpire tried to outlaw one of their top bowlers and South Africa are the front-runners.
The three host nations, particularly Pakistan, the 1992 winners, will rate their chances, even though a home side has never won a World Cup.
England, a competent if uninspired side, and the West Indies, down on their luck, should also not be discounted.
A Pakistan versus Australia final — featuring Malik on the one hand and Warne on the other is a real, if perturbing, possibility.
The charm of the event will be delivered by the minnows of Zimbabwe, a Test nation since 1992. Holland, the United Arab Emirates and Kenya.
Anyone tempted to patronise them, however, could be in for an unexpected bouncer.
Their sides may be sprinkled with schoolboys and slippered old age pensioners — like Holland’s 47-year-old former Barbadian Nolan Clarke — and they may be more used to playing on matting rather than grass.
History —- and live previous World Cups — suggest, however, that one-day cricket can turn into an unexpected lottery, with the big ticket holders not always guaranteed of success.