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.

Click here for the ODI tables.

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*.

Click here for the Test tables.

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.

Click here for the Test tables.

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.

Click here for the Test tables.

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.