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MARCUS HOOK'S WORLD CUP DIARY 2007 (PART FOUR)

Sunday 8th April: Australia v England
For once, England's lack of runs couldn't be blamed on their top order, though that was probably because Vaughan and, as I predicted, Strauss, barely inconvenienced the scorers. Today should have belonged to Kevin Pietersen. At the start England would have taken him scoring a hundred, but they wouldn't have taken a total of 247 on what looked like the best pitch for batting so far. Pietersen became the first batsman in the tournament to make a century against Australia. With Ian Bell hitting 77 off 90 balls, the third-wicket produced a stand of 140. Crucially, the last twenty overs of England's innings produced just 81 runs. Pietersen was dropped on 50 and 63, but he deserved his luck. Things became a bit heated during his knock, which I never regard as a totally bad thing. It shows that both sides are genuinely competing. Ricky Ponting said afterwards that the match was closer than it looked. Come on, Hussey and Hodge weren't even called upon to bat. Then again, Ponting's Australians haven't exactly been tested so far, so I guess, relatively speaking, today's contest probably felt close. Michael Vaughan's verdict was: "We are very, very close to being a really good one-day team." Who's he kidding? If you haven't got a proven partnership breaker - a Bond or a Malinga if you like - then you are nowhere near being a really good one-day team. That said, who knows the significance of umpire Billy Bowden not deciding to give Matthew Hayden out lbw in the first over of the Aussies' reply. The other day Bowden was spotted in the crowd by the TV cameras brandishing a white stick - now we know why. As well as Flintoff bowled it could not make up for yet another failure with the bat on his part.


Michael Vaughan fails again, but on
this occasion England's inability to
post a defendable total is not the fault
of their top order


New Zealand's Brendon McCullum
launches Ireland's Trent Johnston
for six		 Monday 9th April: Ireland v New Zealand
As disappointing as England's defeat to Australia was, it seems to have made little difference to their chances of winning the tournament by dint of Bangladesh placing a spanner in the works when they beat South Africa. Having backed England at 17-1 the other day, I see today that their price is now 18-1. They have to win their three remaining matches comfortably, but if they keep positive, anything's still possible. At yesterday's game Prince Harry was seen with his attractive girlfriend Chelsy Davy. No doubt she is attracted to the Prince's stunning good looks. But seriously, I thought he was supposed to be in training for a tour of duty in Iraq. It seems the British army have the same approach to training as the England cricket team - just when it really matters, they give themselves a break. On the domestic front it was good to see Marcus Trescothick making a double-century in a warm-up game for Somerset. Okay, so the opposition was Devon, but on the evidence of this World Cup, England need Trescothick back. As the competition bade farewell to Guyana and looked ahead to warm welcomes in Grenada and Barbados, New Zealand batted with authority, apart from a shaky period either side of the rain break. Peter Fulton led the way with a mature 83, but Brendon McCullum and James Franklin's 71-run and seven over alliance provided the icing on the cake for the Kiwis, who took full advantage of Andre Botha's absence. In response, the O'Brien brothers put Ireland back in contention after they made a dodgy start, but when the siblings were separated, in the 29th over, the outcome was all too predictable. New Zealand needed only nine more overs to wrap things up, as the last seven Irish wickets mustered just 24 runs.
Tuesday 10th April: West Indies v South Africa
South Africa put their defeat to Bangladesh well and truly behind them today by effectively ending the West Indians' hopes of reaching the last four. Thanks to a maiden one-day international hundred from AB de Villiers - an innings of 146 that included five sixes on what appeared to be a bigger than average ground - and half-centuries from Kallis, Gibbs and Boucher, the Proteas racked up a massive 356-4. It was always going to be a tall order, but before the West Indies' openers, Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, had even faced a ball, Tony Cozier really laid into the attitude of the host team. Apparently, at various times throughout the tournament, a number of their players have been seen out until all hours of the morning the night before a game. It is well known on the circuit that the West Indies' players enjoy a party as well as female company. Nevertheless it was very unlike Cozier to be openly critical of the West Indians live on television, as opposed to in print. He also criticised their levels of fitness - they no longer have a fitness guru - and fielding, which, according to Cozier, the team are paying hardly any attention to in training. In short he felt that by failing to prepare the West Indies had prepared to fail. To their credit, Devon Smith and then Ramnaresh Sarwan gave it a really good go, but the truth of the matter was that the hosts' chances had been earlier undermined by their wayward bowlers. By this time tomorrow, England might, in effect, also be out of the World Cup. Duncan Fletcher has said that Michael Vaughan will play come what may. One thing you can't accuse Fletcher of is disloyalty. However, having his favourites could well end up being Fletcher's downfall. Rumours that Tom Moody has been lined-up as the next England manager aren't going away. Moody is said not to have decided yet about staying on as Sri Lanka's coach.


AB de Villiers, down on one knee,
slices Ramnaresh Sarwan through
backward point for four


Paul Collingwood helping to guide
England to victory over Bangladesh
with an unbeaten 23 from 74 balls		 Wednesday 11th April: England v Bangladesh
After the announcement yesterday that players will be able to refer decisions to the TV umpire in this season's Friends Provident Trophy, Dickie Bird has apparently predicted that umpires will become glorified hat stands. Judging by the number of lbw decisions they have been giving in this World Cup - or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say, not giving - they've become glorified hat stands already. I think I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of run outs or stumping appeals that haven't been referred to the third umpire during this tournament. On the pitch today, Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss played as well as I can remember them doing of late, although both failed to capitalise on decent starts. The departure of Kevin Pietersen felt like a turning point, but nowhere near as much as when Andrew Flintoff and Ravi Bopara fell to Mohammad Rafique in the 32nd over with 33 still needed. Needing to hold on, the two Pauls - Collingwood and Nixon - took no chances guiding England to victory with just five and a bit overs to spare. Earlier, having been put in, Bangladesh slumped to 65-6 before recovering to post a target of 143 thanks to Saqibul Hasan's unbeaten 57 and a total of ten wides. Sajid Mahmood may have carried off the man of the match award, but, for me, the pick of England's attack was Monty Panesar. Finally, I was extremely impressed with the refurbished Kensington Oval. Its facilities look a match for any cricket ground in the world. It's just a shame that today's wicket wasn't a particularly good one for one-day cricket.
Thursday 12th April: Sri Lanka v New Zealand
Today, the illusion that New Zealand are one of the best teams in this World Cup was destroyed by Sri Lanka. Prior to this contest the Kiwis hadn't come up against any of the other three sides expected to make the semi-finals. One hopes it was just a bad day at the office, for England could do with New Zealand bouncing back against South Africa on Saturday. Had it not been for Scott Styris's unbeaten 111 off 157 balls the Kiwis' confidence would now be totally shot. As it is, the bowling of James Franklin and Mark Gillespie, which failed to complement that of Shane Bond today, must be a big concern. As I thought, Lasith Malinga wasn't missed by Sri Lanka. Farveez Maharoof, who I thought was unlucky against South Africa, came back into the side and it was business as usual with both Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan right on the money again. However, it would be wrong of me to suggest that Malinga is surplus to requirements. Should the Sri Lankans go head to head with Australia in the final or semi-finals, he could hold the key to them winning the tournament. The prognosis is that "the Slinga" will be fit again by then, though I find it hard to believe it takes a fortnight to get over torn ankle ligaments. Meanwhile, the fall out of Pakistan's exit continues. Umar Gul has been told he cannot honour his contract to play for Gloucestershire this season, while Danish Kaneira and Younis Khan are also said to be unlikely to turn out for Essex and Yorkshire. Yorkshire are playing Surrey next Wednesday, so let's hope it takes Younis at least a week to smooth things out with his Board.


Chaminda Vaas on the money again.
His accounting for the top three in
New Zealand's order set the tone
in Grenada


My man, Australia's Mike Hussey,
during his "net" against Ireland		 Friday 13th April: Australia v Ireland
It may have been Friday the thirteenth, but the World Cup saw no mishaps. But let's face it, today's fixture was never likely to yield any surprises and, in truth, it wasn't a contest. Everything was all done and dusted soon after I arrived home from the office. Despite the match finishing in half the time, Sky tried their best to hold on to the viewers' attention by discussing the merits of a team like Ireland qualifying for the Super Eights. Paul Allott described today's fixture as an Eights match that had nothing super about it. He went on to say that the ICC needed to look at how Ireland could qualify from the group stage; adding that future tournaments should be arranged in such a way that the same thing cannot happen again. But I had to agree with Charles Colville - which must be something of a first - when he said that everyone knew the score, except India and, to put it mildly, Pakistan, just did not follow the script. On the pitch, my man, Mike Hussey, got some runs under his belt; but I kissed goodbye to my bet on him finishing as the tournament's leading run-scorer a long time ago. But other than Hussey's unbeaten 30, today's game was completely irrelevant. Turning to the papers and the web, Mark Ramprakash has quite rightly blamed Duncan Fletcher for England's indifferent showing so far in the tournament. I'm sure Mark feels that even if Fletcher stays on as manager, nothing he says about him will spoil his chances of a Test recall. Ramprakash has also said he thinks Andrew Flintoff should open for the batting for England. It just goes to show that great minds think alike (see my diary entries dated 30 March and 4 April).


James Franklin celebrates the
dismissal of AB de Villiers, lbw, for his
fourth duck in 8 World Cup innings

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