Becca
Tony Becca, Senior Sport Editor
THE WORLD Cup of cricket is scheduled to get under way on Sunday. For the past few weeks a band of musicians accompanied by a number of South Africa's legendary sportsmen have been roaming the country drumming up interest and the opening ceremony in Cape Town on Saturday promises to be a dazzling affair.
With just a few days to go, there are still problems surrounding protests over venues. In spite of that, Dr. Ali Bacher, executive director of World Cup 2003, has promised a tournament to remember.
"The show must go on," said the former South Africa captain, "and we will make sure this is a wonderful event for Africa".
The show must go on; it will go on, and even though New Zealand have refused to play in Kenya and England and Australia could still pull out of their matches in Zimbabwe, the promise is that it will be a spectacular event - a tournament filled with brilliant play, packed with exciting contests and watched by full houses.
To most pundits, Test cricket is still No. 1. One-day cricket, however, is fast and exciting, although for bowlers, consistency is the order of things, it forces fielders to be on their toes - to run and dive and then release the ball quicker than they normally do and it encourages batsmen not only to go for quick singles but, in the quest for quick runs, and particularly so toward the end of the innings, to be also bold and innovative.
Unlike Test cricket, and with the possible exception of the first few overs, there is no time in one-day cricket to sit on the splice - to frustrate the bowler and then strike every now and again.
Cricket is a batsman's game, nothing is more exciting than batsmen hitting the ball - to the boundary or over the boundary, and with the World's most exciting batsmen going for as many runs as possible in 50 overs, the World Cup should be a spectacle.
On parade, for example, will be the likes of Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Carl Hooper and Brian Lara of the West Indies, Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting of Australia, Saeed Anwar, Inzamam ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi of Pakistan, Michael Vaughan of England, Nathan Astle of New Zealand, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif and Sachin Tendulkar of India and Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis of South Africa.
On top of that, and apart from one like Kenya's Steve Tikolo who can smash the ball about, there are the no-nonsense Sri Lankans - Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Attapatu, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara plus the stylish Aravinda de Silva.
With such batsmen in action, it should be excitement galore. With a number of class bowlers up against them on what should be some lively pitches, it could, however, also be dramatic.
Although the teams will be looking for consistency in line and length there will be some clever bowlers around - including pacers Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee and legspinner Shane Warne of Australia, pacers Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock and Kallis, medium-pacer Lance Klusener, and left-arm spinner Nicky Boje of South Africa, pacers Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath and spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh of India, pacer Chaminda Vaas and offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka, and pacers Shane Bond, Daryl Tuffey, Chris Cairns and Sott Styris, plus left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori of New Zealand.
On top of that, there are the Pakistanis - pacers Shoaib Akhtar, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood and offspinner Saqlain Mushtaq.
In the final analysis, however, it is the contest that matters, and that also should be interesting. In fact, of all the tournaments since the first one in 1975, this one could be the most interesting.
Australia are tipped to win and so good are they with the bat, with the ball and in the field that they should win. South Africa, New Zealand and India - despite their mauling in New Zealand - are nicely balanced, however, and one of them could crash the party.
Pakistan are so talented in batting and bowling that if they stay focussed they could go all the way; and although, but for Vaas and Muralitharan, their bowling is limited, their batting is so strong that so too could Sri Lanka.
What about the West Indies? Their bowling appears the weakest of the top seven, and because of that the odds are heavily against them.
With the experienced and explosive Lara and Hooper, the experienced, solid and some times brilliant Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and the exciting Gayle, Hinds and Sarwan in the West Indies line-up, however, such is the potential of their batting that they could surprise the field in a manner that would bring back memories of 1983 when India struggled through to the final and then ambushed the West Indies at Lord's.
