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MARCUS HOOK'S WORLD CUP DIARY 2003 (PART THREE)

                   
Tuesday 18 February: West Indies v Bangladesh
Four wides in the opening over and a couple of no-balls to start the next set the tone for hapless Bangladesh, who came up against the West Indies at Benoni today. The result was never in doubt until, that is, the rain arrived to spare their blushes. It was really hard luck on Carl Hooper’s men. I hope the loss of two points doesn’t come back to haunt them. One thing is for certain, South Africa won’t be complaining. Having heard how one or two of the Surrey players reacted to the things they read on the Oval World messageboard last season, I wonder what they made of Mohammad Kaif’s house being vandalised and effigies of Sourav Ganguly being burnt throughout India following Australia’s emphatic win on Saturday? With rain forecast for tomorrow’s match in Port Elizabeth, England will be hoping the weather doesn’t deny them the opportunity to score an easy victory. India have got a crucial game against Zimbabwe in Harare. England could really do with that one being rained off. I don’t suppose it will be, though. One thing is certain, neither Neil Mallender nor Peter Willey will not be officiating, since both have chosen to stand shoulder to shoulder with the England players by boycotting Zimbabwe. Anyway, I guess I’d better get some of this diary uploaded on to the website before people start wondering whether I have gone into hibernation. Well, it has certainly been cold enough the last two nights. Brrr…


People in India take out their dissatisfaction on posters of their cricketing icons.

 

Namibia's J.B.Burger on his way to making 85 against England.		 Wednesday 19 February: England v Namibia, Sri Lanka v Canada and Zimbabwe v India
England completed their World Cup warm-up today with a 55-run win over Namibia, though for a period of six or seven overs their opponents were ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis par score. With rain apparently threatening, it could have ended embarrassingly for Alec Stewart’s men. But these non-Test playing nations seem to rely heavily on one or two key players and after J.B.Burger went to a good catch by Collingwood at cover point England coasted home. Following the stick I gave Ronnie Irani in the preview I wrote on the tournament, even I have to admit that Stewie’s decision to hold him back took some fathoming. Perhaps Alec was preoccupied with the prospect of wrapping up the man of the match award for his innings of 60 off 77 balls earlier. Even though Andy Flower had been told by the ICC not to wear a black armband, the Zimbabwean sported wristbands for the first time ever today. When Henry Olonga – who was strangely demoted to ‘twelfthers’ duties – was clocked wearing a pair of the same colour, it was evidently no coincidence they were black. The pair could well find themselves in increasingly hot water before long. With the bat, Flower, like most of his team-mates, looked out or sorts. The left-hander took more than an hour over his 22. Zimbabwe simply had no answer to Sachin Tendulkar’s 81. However, India’s decision to replace Anil Kumble with Ashish Nehra seemed somewhat harsh on the wily leg-spinner. The less said about the Sri Lanka-Canada clash the better. With the game not even lasting two hours (including the break between innings) it was a foretaste of this summer’s 20:20 competition; for which the ECB is yet to identify a sponsor – well, what a surprise! I agree with Gary Sutton that the ECB should approach the makers of Andrex.

 
Thursday 20 February: Australia v Holland
A helicopter was needed to ensure today’s game at Potchefstroom reached a positive conclusion. I was reminded of the time when the John Player League trophy was delivered by helicopter. Now, those were the days. The Dutch can be proud of their performance, even though they did record their lowest total in World Cup history. After eighteen overs Australia had only managed 67 for one, but thanks to Damien Martyn they ended up with an unassailable 170 for two off the agreed 36 – with 47 runs coming in the last eight. I have to admit to being a bit miffed that two of the three Aussies in my Oval World fantasy side were conspicuous by the absence today. Still, Matthew Hayden earned ‘Inner City Sumo’ (anyone else out there like ‘I’m Alan Partridge’?) a much-needed 14 points. It was sad to hear that Zimbabwe’s Henry Olonga has been given his marching orders by Takashinga Cricket Club. The Mugabe regime is held in such fear, clearly not everyone is prepared to stand up and be counted. Takashinga’s press statement accused Olonga of bringing the game into disrepute and of compromising the objective of embracing ethical standards. Only one side is showing any standards and I’m afraid it isn’t Takashinga Cricket Club. I now believe even more that England did the right thing by boycotting the game in Harare. The only thing that they could have done is handled the affair better. I’m not having a go at the players. They were obviously backed into a corner by the ECB, who were more worried about the compensation and knock-on effects for this summer’s international fixture list. It would appear that England won’t be alone. Kenya are set to record their second win of the tournament tomorrow, since New Zealand have chosen not to travel to Nairobi.

 


Jeroen Smits and Tim de Leede celebrate the dismissal of Maher.

England's Jimmy Anderson accounts for Inzamam-Ul-Haq first ball.		 Saturday 22 February: England v Pakistan and South Africa v Bangladesh
The news that Shane Warne has been banned from all cricket for one year dominated the day’s events. Some say it is harsh and others (including a senior figure in the World Anti-Doping Agency) are saying it isn’t harsh enough; all of which means the panel probably got it about right. Warne has vowed to appeal, but should he lose he faces an even longer lay-off. Given the competition to get into the Australian side, maybe it is a risk worth taking. In a year from now Nathan Hauritz or Brad Hogg could have cemented their place in the team. Closer to home the news means that Hampshire are without a key player and now need to think seriously about who will lead them this summer. I don’t envy them in their search. As I wrote on Monday, it was crucial England won the toss in Cape Town. The ball moved around prodigiously under the lights, but our bowlers still had to put it in the right places, which, once again, Jimmy Anderson did better than anyone. The middle stump yorkers he produced to put Yousuf Youhana and Saeed Anwar back in the pavilion were as close as you can get to being unplayable. Reducing the Pakistanis to 17 for three was crucial to the outcome. To think Anderson hadn’t even played county cricket a year ago, the guy probably has to pinch himself at times. However, it was also a case of yet more injuries for England. To add to Blackwell’s sore back, Hussain and Vaughan could be doubts for Wednesday’s all-important clash with India. Another sobering element to today’s contest was Shoaib Akhtar’s late flourish with the bat, which put the quality of our support bowling into perspective a little. Thankfully Paul Collingwood’s unbeaten 66 in 73 deliveries – not to mention a useful 30 off 34 from our Alec – meant that Shoaib’s fireworks added up to nothing more than a bit of entertainment. His breaking of the 100mph barrier was similarly invalidated by figures of one for 63 in nine overs. In today’s other game Bangladesh were on the end of another hiding, this time against South Africa who registered their second win whilst blooding their lesser lights Andrew Hall, Robin Peterson and Monde Zondeki. Jacques Kallis played, but even against a soft target like Bangladesh he couldn’t manage anything more than a passable five overs for 19.
                   

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