Ponting's Caribbean rut, and economical Agarkar

The World Cup starts in less than a fortnight in the Caribbean so the List finally decided to jump on the bandwagon and shift its focus towards the big bash. This week we look at how visiting players have performed in the West Indies in one-day internationals and Tests; we're looking at current players, many of whom will be at the World Cup.

England's 60 Tests in the West Indies and Australia's 30 ODIs there since 1978 are the highest for any touring team. Among the major title contenders, Sri Lanka are the least experienced, having played just four Tests and five ODIs in the West Indies. In fact there have been only two one-day tournaments involving more than two teams in the Caribbean. As a result, precious few players have hands-on experience of West Indian conditions going into the World Cup. And so we've set our qualifications to at least six innings over two series for batsmen, to rule out one-series wonders, and 300 balls over two series for bowlers.

Ricky Ponting, under pressure after Australia's recent slump, will want to answer critics in the manner he knows best - with his bat. As a batsman, his record in the Caribbean is two-faced. Ponting scored a hundred in his first Test in the West Indies and has since plundered 691 runs in nine innings at 98.71. On his last tour, he hit three consecutive centuries and bagged the Man-of-the-Series award. In ODIs, however, Ponting hasn't scored a hundred in 14 innings and averages only 26.41 with two half-centuries. He'll need to boost that if Australia are going to complete a World Cup hat-trick.

Biggest positive difference in average for overseas batsmen in West Indies - Tests (qualification: 6 innings, 2 series)

Player	Span		Mat	Runs	Ave	100		WI	Runs	Ave	100		Diff
SM Pollock (SA)	2001-2005		107	3781	32.31	2		6	315	78.75	1		46.433
RT Ponting (Aus)	1999-2003		110	9368	59.29	33		5	691	98.71	4		39.423
APE Knott (Eng)	1968-1974		95	4389	32.75	5		7	514	57.11	0		24.357
EH Hendren (Eng)	1930-1935		51	3525	47.63	7		8	895	68.84	2		21.211
L Hutton (Eng)	1948-1954		79	6971	56.67	19		7	848	77.09	2		20.416
SM Gavaskar (India)	1971-1983		125	10122	51.12	34		13	1404	70.20	7		19.078
NJ Astle (NZ)	1996-2002		81	4702	37.02	11		4	438	54.75	2		17.726
SR Waugh (Aus)	1991-2003		168	10927	51.06	32		14	1096	68.50	4		17.439
MC Cowdrey (Eng)	1960-1968		114	7624	44.06	22		10	1025	60.29	4		16.224
S Madan Lal (India)	1976-1983		39	1042	22.65	0		6	230	38.33	0		15.681

More than half of New Zealand's World Cup squad has never played in the Caribbean before and only Stephen Fleming has toured twice, which is why Nathan Astle's experience could be missed. He too has starkly different Test and ODI stats in the West Indies; his Test average of 54.75 overshadows his 24.11 in ODIs. Fleming's form will be crucial to New Zealand's success and his average of 43.77 is ranked tenth in our table of highest ODI averages in the Caribbean.

The batsman with the best average in the West Indies isn't even going to the World Cup. Boeta Dippenaar, often panned for his slow strike-rate, averages 107 in ODIs in the West Indies but was left out of South Africa's World Cup plans because of a recent rut. He toured in 2001 and 2005 and chalked up scored of 62*, 42*, 7, 56, 60*, 123, 17 and 61*.

Biggest positive difference in average for overseas batsmen in West Indies - ODIs (qualification: 6 innings, 2 series)

Player	Span		Mat	Runs	Ave	100		WI	Runs	Ave	100		Diff
HH Dippenaar (SA)	2001-2005		104	3344	42.87	4		10	428	107.00	1		64.128
V Sibanda (Zim)	2006-2006		46	1009	23.46	1		7	316	52.66	1		29.201
MG Bevan (Aus)	1999-2003		232	6912	53.58	6		12	367	73.40	0		19.818
CJ Chibhabha (Zim)	2006-2006		22	609	27.68	0		6	260	43.33	0		15.651
Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak)	1993-2005		375	11665	39.67	10		14	590	53.63	0		13.959
SK Warne (Aus)	1995-1999		194	1018	13.05	0		11	106	26.50	0		13.448
HH Gibbs (SA)	2001-2005		198	6356	35.50	16		10	389	48.62	2		13.116
BRM Taylor (Zim)	2006-2006		60	1514	28.03	0		9	325	40.62	0		12.588
SP Fleming (NZ)	1996-2002		270	7684	32.15	7		10	394	43.77	1		11.627
NB Mahwire (Zim)	2006-2006		23	117	10.63	0		8	65	21.66	0		11.030

Inzamam-ul-Haq has a splendid record in the West Indies but the two Ys that form the remainder of Pakistan's fulcrum have struggled. Mohammad Yousuf will want to carry on his sublime form over the last 14 months to the World Cup and improve his meagre collection of 190 in 10 ODIs in the West Indies. Younis Khan also has 190 runs but from nine innings at an average of 21.11.

Biggest negative difference in average for overseas batsmen in West Indies - ODIs (qualification: 6 innings, 2 series)

Player	Span		Mat	Runs	Ave	100		WI	Runs	Ave	100		Diff
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)	2000-2005		233	7853	41.77	12		10	190	19.00	0		-22.771
DI Gower (Eng)	1981-1986		114	3170	30.77	7		6	55	9.16	0		-21.610
RT Ponting (Aus)	1995-2003		269	9856	42.48	22		14	317	26.41	0		-16.066
M Azharuddin (India)	1989-1997		334	9378	36.92	7		9	178	22.25	0		-14.671
Abdul Razzaq (Pak)	2000-2005		229	4449	30.06	2		10	127	15.87	0		-14.185
P Willey (Eng)	1981-1986		26	538	23.39	0		6	72	12.00	0		-11.391
NJ Astle (NZ)	1996-2002		223	7090	34.92	16		10	217	24.11	0		-10.814
Younis Khan (Pak)	2000-2005		148	3951	31.60	2		9	190	21.11	0		-10.496
RJ Shastri (India)	1983-1989		150	3108	29.04	4		7	130	18.57	0		-10.475
AJ Stewart (Eng)	1990-1998		170	4677	31.60	4		15	281	21.61	0		-9.986

The bowlers will be keen to see how the new pitches will play in the West Indies - will they be the traditionally slow and low tracks or will belters be served up for the World Cup? This may come as a shock to some but Ajit Agarkar has the second best bowling average for a visiting bowler in the West Indies. He has 15 wickets in eight ODIs but the most eye-catching stat is Agarkar's economy-rate - 3.62 compared to his career 5.05.

Biggest difference in average for overseas bowlers in West Indies - ODIs (qualification: 300 balls, 2 series)

Player	Span		Mat	Wkts	Ave	5		WI	Wkts	Ave	5		Diff
P Utseya (Zim)	2006-2006		59	37	54.29	0		9	10	30.70	0		-23.597
Abdul Razzaq (Pak)	2000-2005		229	245	31.04	3		10	18	19.44	0		-11.600
NB Mahwire (Zim)	2006-2006		23	21	36.90	0		8	11	25.54	0		-11.359
AB Agarkar (India)	2002-2006		180	272	27.55	2		8	15	16.40	0		-11.151
A Nel (SA)	2001-2005		56	73	29.17	0		6	11	18.63	0		-10.541
CJ McDermott (Aus)	1991-1995		138	203	24.71	1		8	18	14.50	0		-10.219
ME Waugh (Aus)	1991-1999		244	85	34.56	1		16	13	25.00	0		-9.564
JH Kallis (SA)	2001-2005		247	225	31.01	2		11	12	22.08	0		-8.934
T Mupariwa (Zim)	2006-2006		19	33	26.21	0		7	15	18.20	0		-8.012
Mushtaq Ahmed (Pak)	1993-2000		144	161	33.29	1		9	11	26.72	0		-6.570

India chose Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble as their specialist spinners over Ramesh Powar in their World Cup squad. Harbhajan Singh's worst record in any country is in the West Indies, where he has only six wickets in eight ODIs at a strike-rate of 70.

With Brett Lee out of the World Cup and the younger tearaways getting caned in New Zealand, extra pressure falls on the ageing shoulders of Glenn McGrath who also hasn't had much success in the West Indies. It is one of his least successful venues - just 10 wickets from 11 matches, which includes a four-wicket haul, at a strike-rate of 53.6. Australia's title defence will hinge on how he leads the attack.