WORLD CUP ’07 – a damp squib?

There remains just two semifinals, and then the final, before this ninth edition of the Cricket World Cup is consigned to history; and these three confrontations will have to be really quality affairs to save this edition from being labeled as the least memorable so far.

No, it is not because India and Pakistan failed to make it past the first round. If anything, India’s absence has only brought some sanity to the tournament, with all the hypemakers withdrawing into their shell along with the Men In Blue.

The most dampening factor, of course, was the demise – later established as murder- of Bob Woolmer immediately after Pakistan’s shocker against Ireland. All sorts of speculation flew around, but investigations are still underway. It remains to be seen what finally comes out of the Pandorea’s box.

Even in the absence of India and Pakistan, the Super Eights would have been thrilling if only England and West Indies had played to potential. England’s dismal show can be attributed to one single factor- Andrew Flintoff’s utter failure with the bat. With Michael Vaughan back as skipper, it was widely hoped that the freedom from the captaincy shackles would see Freddie at his destructive best as the premier allrounder-but except for the occasional bursts with the ball, he has been disappointing, to say the least. This left Kevin Pietersen, the only other potential matchwinner in the side, with too much to do. And for reasons best known to themselves, England left out Liam Plunkett, their best bowler in the best of three finals in Australia, from most of their matches.The first casualty has already come to the fore, with coach Duncan Fletcher announcing that he is quitting.

However, the premier reason for the tournament's failure to capture the imagination has been the diabolical performance from the host team. The World Cup is yet to be won by a host nation, and the Windies have never threatened to rewrite that trend this time around. Brian Lara, for some strange reason, has been batting at number six, when he needed to seize the game by the scruff of the neck at number three. Chris Gayle and others, except for Sarwan, have been playing like novices in front of their home crowd.

Any cricket match in the Carribean is livened up by the boisterous,but knowledgeable, crowd accompanied by plenty of rum and music. The ICC, in their farsightedness, decided to ban both from the grounds which, coupled with high the ticket rates and the dismal show from the home team have driven the crowd – and the festive atmosphere- away from the grounds. Talk of poor marketing!

The complete- and sometimes even scary -dominance of Australia over the others have not helped either in providing exciting fare. Mathew Hayden has left most bowlers literally quaking in their boots, advancing upon them in the most intimidating manner. The way hulks like Hayden and Smith are moving towards the bowler even before the ball has left his hand, maybe it is time the ICC thought of something like the equivalent of the no-ball rule ( no-bat?) for batsmen! Ricky Ponting’s general body language has also been that of a man hugely confident in his team’s as well as his own abilities - master of all he surveys. Even allowing for the tremendous performances from Hayden, Ponting, Bracken etc, Australia continues to give the impression of playing as a team. One huge plus for them in this World Cup has been the bowling of Brad Hogg. Not a single batsman, not even a left hander, has read his wrong ‘un throughout the tournament. And Mike Hussey hasn't even had to contribute much as yet! Does this team have to be coached or even captained? Their opponents will be rueing the fact that Australia succumbed to England and New Zealand just prior to the World cup. The defeats would have alerted the Aussies to the chinks that still existed in their armouries and required ironing out-and threw out of the window any chance of the World champions being complacent. The only solace opponents can find would be that Austraia have not yet had an indifferent match in this tourney and that maybe they are due for one. But such rules apply only to ordinary teams, and this team is currently playing anything but ordinary cricket.

Going purely by form, you have to predict an Australia –Sri Lanka final. South Africa has historically become tentative once the business end of a World Cup is reached, and they are up against, arguably, the best one day side that has ever played. They still don’t have a capable spinner to bolster their one-dimensional attack, and Australia will seize on any such weakness.Pollock, Nel and co. do not inspire the same trepidation in the minds of the Aussie batsmen. It is more the other way round - ever seen Andre Nel trying to stare down an Aussie batsman?

New Zealand’s chances against Sri Lanka will increase by about 40% if Shane Bond is fit to play-he single handedly transforms a run of the mill bowling attack to a very penetrative one! The other bowlers appear to be a much more confident lot when Bond is around. But their batsmen will still have to find a way to see off Muralitharan and at the same time take 4 an over from him. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will be praying that Lasith Malinga will be fully fit. A bowling attack with Vaas, Murali and an on- song Malinga will be a handful even for Matt Hayden and co. But Sri Lanka are not batting very well at the moment and depend too much on Jayasuriya for those explosive starts which could be later consolidated upon.

Given the unpredictabilties of cricket, it is still not impossible that Australia is dethroned; let us just say it is highly improbable!Every bad ball has to be punished, every single taken, every chance-or even half a chance- converted, to compete against this Australian team.

Sreesanth - Kerala cricket's great hope