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World Cup Cricket zf at a Glance [

by Nafisul Islam
THE long wait of four years is finally over, world Cup Cricket, one of the sport's most spectacular and glamorous extravaganza has begun. As all the cricket maniacs are aware of. this year's World Cup will be hosted in the subcontinent and the hosts are India. Pakistan and Sri Lanka. This major month long event will conclude on March 17. Among the 12 participating nations there are three newcomers, viz Holland. UAE and Kenya, who have achieved the right to play in this Cup by qualifying in the ICC Trophy. The 12 teams, from all over the globe, has come with only one mission — to clinch the ultimate glory in the World Cup cricket. Although ' cricket is a game of glorious uncertainty and the underdogs have often emerged as winners, let us sum up and assess the strength and weaknesses and possibilities of some of the top contenders.
First comes Australia, the hot favourites of the year. It can be said without hesitation that they are at the top in both the Test' and one-day' version of the game. They are a bunch of talented and excit-, ing cricketers most of whom have beep graduates from the Australian Cricket Academy.
The Academy transforms raw talents into world class cricketers. That is why perhaps they are the game's most talented side. They are strong virtually In all departments of the game. The Australians have an awesome batting line up. They have a superb combination with the experience and caution of Mark Taylor. Steve Waugh. Ian Healy and Stuart Law and, of course, there are the flambuoyant strokemakers like Mark Waugh and the young sensations Ricky Ponting. Michael Bevan and Shane Lee.
They have an excellent bowling line up led by the wrist spin wizard. Shane Warne, and followed by Glen McGrath. Craig McDermott and Paul Relfiel. They are such a good one-day team because some of their top batsmen like Steve Waugh. Mark Waugh. Michael Bevan and Stuart Law can also bow) well. So team captain. Mark Taylor has a lot of options to choose from. Their fielders have strong arms and keep batsmen under cohstant pressure. So if everything goes well. Australia can well repeat the 1987 World Cup success.
Next comes South Africa, since their return to international cricket in 1992 they have had a remarkable record. They have had an ideal preparation leading up to the World Cup, beating the Englishmen in the Tests and thrashing them 6-1 in the one-dayers. Their main strength lies in their bowling and fielding. South Africa always possessed a balanced Sace attack. But now they ave one of the world's most destructive and fiery pace attack. Their bowling is led by Allan Donald, presently the fastest man in the world, and is followed by Shaun Pollock. Craig Matthews. Brain McMillan and De Villiers.
They are very agile and athletic in fielding side. In Jonty Rhodes they have the world's best fielder. They are the only team who can match Australia in fielding. But batting is perhaps their weaker dlde. It does not have thy consistency and talent of Australfa or India. However, it has Improved tremendously. Andrew Hudson and Gary Kirsten are very solid openers followed by their skipper Hansie Cronje, strokemakers Daryll KuUi-nan. Jonty Rhodes. Jacques Kallis.
In Brian McMillan they have an excellent allrounder who can be compared with the likes of Jan Botham. McMillan is a very hard hitting middle order batsman and a fiery paceman. Cronje and Kallis can also bowl a Ht-tle. So South Africa are a bal anced and matured side and if they can cope with the slow, flat wickets of the subcontinent. they can go one step further than last time and reach the finals.
India, one of the host nations. have immense pressure on them to do well. In-dta comes to this World Cup as one of the favourites. They have an excellent record over the past 5 years on home soil They have s'great depth in their batting with batting master Sachin Tendulkar as their opening batsman. If Sachin clicks in time India can well go on to pile up a huge totaf After Sachin Tendulkar follows allrounder Manoj Prabhakar. Sidhu. Azharuddin, Kambli, Man-jrekar. Jadeja and the wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia. But their fielding and bowling often let them do«n.
There is an absence of a world class pace bowler and allrounder in the team. Among the pacemen Javagal Srinath has improved a lot.
There are also three spinners in the side viz Aashish Kapoor. Anil Kumble and Raju. Anil Kumble is one of the world's most effective wrist spinners and he bowls very well on the turning Indian wickets. The one big question is: can Mohammed Azharuddln make his team the first one to clinch the Cup on home sojl.
Sri Lanka, one of the cohosts are also strong contenders and like the Indians they have a very good one-day record on home soil. They have a very strong and exciting batting line up, led by experienced batsmen, their skipper Arjuna Ranatunga and De Silva.
In Romesh Kaluwitharana they have one of the world's most talented and exciting opening batsman. The other batsmen are Jayasuriya. Gu-rusinha. Tillekeratne and others. They are also the best fielding side in the subcontinent. But they do not have a very sharp bowling attack.
But if Wickramasinghe. Dharmasena. Pushpa Kumar a, Muralitharan bowl accurately Sri Lanka can exceed all expectations. From underdogs they have emerged as champions over the past couple of f-ars. They have beaten the akistanis on home soil both In Test and one-dayers and, the Pakistanis. New Zealanders and West Indians to win the Singer Trophy. They have a good possibility of at least reaching the semifinals.
Pakistan, the co-hosts besides India and Srl Lanka despite having a disastrous year are also a tough team to beat. As the defending cham-Klons. the Pakistanis are re-uilding the team under Wasim Akram to make a challenge for the trophy.
The West Indies have also bad a lean patch like Pak Istan. They wverc defeated for the first time in 15 years in a Test series by Australia the previous year. But no one can count out the West Indies, the winners Of the first two World Cups. They have a very balanced bowling attack led by the ageing but still destructive new ball bowlers Walsh and Ambrose, Otis Gibson is a promising allrounder. Roger Harper gives variation to their attack. Their main problem is their batting, without world record holder Brian Lara they do not have any other really consistent batsman.
Their innings have often collapsed when Lara failed to click. But Lara is such a master batsman that he is capable of leading his team to the finals single-handedly Other batsmen like Campbell, captain Richie Richardson, Chanderpaul and Holder have to find their form if West Indies are to win the World Cup
Traditional giants England are no longer the force they used to be. But they have the superb record of reaching the finals thrice although they failed to be the champions each time.
The other teams like New Zealand. Zimbabwe. UAE. Kenya and Holland are not weakling and have the capability to provide a few surprises. Meanwhile, only time can tell who will hold aloft the trophy after the finals on March 17th.