Quest for the Holy Grail (14 May 1999)

14 May 1999

Quest for the Holy Grail

The Christchurch Press

Reaching the Super Six play-offs of the Worls Cup may be harder for the New Zealand cricketers than reaching the semi-finals. Geoff Longley analyses the Black Caps' prospects for the World Cup , which starts tonight (NZ time) in England.

To get into the Super Six, New Zealand must at least get one win against the West Indies, Pakistan, or Australia, along with accounting for ICC minnows, Scotland and Bangladesh.

Once into the top six, New Zealand then faces matches against teams from the top three of the other section, which should comprise South Africa, and two of England, India, and Sri Lanka.

Apart from the formidable Proteas, the Black Caps would be buoyant about their chances of beating the other sides to make the semi-finals with points from section play carried forward.

The first four is coach Steve Rixon's goal, a realistic one, and not just hot Australian air. But to achieve that a precious scalp has to be secured against three of the better teams in the tournament.

The Black Caps are capable of that, having a good blend of experience and youth in the one-day arena.

A greater degree of consistency and hardness has been evident in their play during the past season and every avenue of planning and preparation has been meticulously explored, from a pre-tour reconnaissance trip to taking the latest digital television technology for analysis.

The team has match winners in Nathan Astle (pictured right) and Chris Cairns, who should be in their playing prime and the World Cup is the ideal stage to show they are in the world's top bracket.

They are backed by a capable unit. Its greatest strength appears to be its collective will, rather than individual brilliance. Its fielding should be superior to most, the vast majority being athletic about the arena.

New Zealand has a good draw, opening with a shakedown game against Bangladesh, before striking Australia, West Indies, Pakistan, and Scotland, each several days apart.

The make-up of the Black Caps will focus on the last playing place -- depending on conditions -- a decision seemingly between economical bowler Gavin Larsen and an extra batsman, Roger Twose.

However, several factors count against the Black Caps winning the World Cup for the first time.

While they have Cairns and Astle, especially for their batting heroics, the team is light on world-class bowlers able to devastate opposing line-ups. New Zealand does not have a Glenn McGrath or Wasim Akram to set sides back with a telling burst.

Its attack focuses on containment, although English conditions could provide more assistance than usual.

New Zealand has never won a major international one-day tournament overseas, despite performing creditably in the past two World Cups.

New Zealand's best chance of reaching the Super Six appears to be against the West Indies, a team whose revival against Australia in the recent test and one-day series leant heavily on the brilliance of Brian Lara.

Apart from Lara, who is battling a recurring wrist injury, the Windies nowadays have fewer match-winners, although the consistent Shivarine Chanderpaul, returning from injury, will help offset the retirement of Carl Hooper.

Pakistan is a team on the rise again after the internal turmoil over betting allegations and the resignation last month of coach Javed Miandad.

Australia will be as clinically efficient as ever, although the team may be jaded from having had no rest from international play since November.

It is hoped England's notoriously fickle spring weather is more settled to allow the tournament to run its true course.

Nothing would be worse than for the World Cup to be rain-affected and to be decided by calculators and countbacks, although two days are allowed for the continuation of games.

However, come June 20 and the final at Lord's, the finalists could be South Africa against Pakistan or Australia.

Judging by the way South African skipper Hansie Cronje spoke the day his team left New Zealand after their tour here, second is unacceptable.

There was a steely resolve in Cronje's voice as he said that winning the World Cup was all that mattered.

For a number of the Proteas -- Allan Donald, Gary Kirsten, Jonty Rhodes, Daryll Cullinan and Cronje himself -- it could be their last World Cup.

They are fiercely determined to take the Cup back to South Africa where the next tournament is being held.

Defending champion, but unlikely this time. Poor record of late (lost 15 of 20), fielding and injury concerns. Still capable on their day of beating the best. Players to watch: Aravinda de Silva, Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya.

Squad: 1 Arjuna Ranatunga (captain, pictured above), 2 Muttiah Muralitharan, 3 Marvan Atapattu, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Roshan Mahanama, 6 Hashan Tillekeratne, 7 Romesh Kaluwitharana, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Aravinda de Silva, 10 Pramodya Wickremasinghe, 11 Chandika Hathurusinghe, 12 Upul Chandana, 13 Eric Upashantha, 14 Ruwan Kalpage, 15 Sanath Jayasuriya.

Handy in their home conditions, but not one of the great one-day units. A lot of experienced players included but lack the 'X' factor. Players to watch: Darren Gough, Graeme Hick, Alec Stewart.

Squad: 1 Alec Stewart (captain), 2 Ian Austin, 3 Robert Croft, 4 Mark Ealham, 5 Neil Fairbrother, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Angus Fraser, 8 Darren Gough, 9 Graeme Hick, 10 Adam Hollioake, 11 Nasser Hussain, 12 Nick Knight, 13 Alan Mullally, 14 Graham Thorpe, 15 Vince Wells.

Never seem to play that well away from the sub-continent. Dazzling batting array, but not the bowling firepower to match. Players to watch: Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Ajit Agarkar.

Squad: 1 Mohammad Azharuddin (captain), 2 Saurav Ganguly, 3 Ajay Jadeja, 4 Sadagoppan Ramesh, 5 Rahul Dravid, 6 Robin Singh, 7 Ajit Agarkar, 8 Anil Kumble, 9 Nayan Mongia, 10 Sachin Tendulkar, 11 Venkatesh Prasad, 12 Nikhil Chopra, 13 Debashish Mohanty, 14 Javagal Srinath, 15 Amay Khurasia.

Powerful batting and bowling battery will take them close. Only weakness is slow bowling. Probable finalist. Players to watch: Lance Klusener, Jonty Rhodes, Shaun Pollock.

Squad: 1 Gary Kirsten, 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Daryll Cullinan, 5 Hansie Cronje (captain), 6 Dale Benkenstein, 7 Shaun Pollock, 8 Jonty Rhodes, 9 Mark Boucher, 10 Allan Donald, 11 Derek Crookes, 12 Alan Dawson, 13 Lance Klusener, 14 Steve Elworthy, 15 Nicky Boje.

Not enough depth, especially bowling, or big-game one-day tournament experience to consistently threaten. Could take one top team out along the way though. Players to watch: Murray Goodwin, Neil Johnson.

Squad: 1 Alistair Campbell (captain), 2 Andy Flower, 3 Grant Flower, 4 Neil Johnson, 5 Murray Goodwin, 6 Stuart Carlisle, 7 Henry Olonga, 8 Mpumelelo Mbangwa, 9 Heath Streak, 10 Adam Huckle, 11 Dirk Viljoen, 12 Eddo Brandes, 13 Paul Strang, 14 Andy Whittall, 15 Guy Whittall.

Best of the ICC qualifiers, but will struggle.

Squad: 1 Asif Karim (captain), 2 Maurice Odumbe, 3 Ravindu Shah, 4 Kennedy Otieno, 5 Steve Tikolo, 6 Hitesh Modi, 7 Sandip Gupta, 8 Thomas Odoyo, 9 Tony Suji, 10 Martin Suji, 11 Mohamed Sheikh, 12 Joseph Angara, 13 Deepak Chudasama, 14 Alpesh Vadher, 15 Jimmy Kamande.

Super solid all-round side that has semi-finalist written all over it. Whether it has the inspirational edge to take the title is the question. Players to watch: The Waugh brothers, Michael Bevan, Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath.

Squad: 1 Steve Waugh (captain), 2 Michael Bevan, 3 Damien Fleming, 4 Paul Reiffel, 5 Shane Warne, 6 Mark Waugh, 7 Shane Lee, 8 Brendon Julian, 9 Tom Moody, 10 Darren Lehmann, 11 Glenn McGrath, 12 Adam Gilchrist, 13 Adam Dale, 14 Ricky Ponting, 15 Damien Martyn.

How Brian Lara goes should be how the Windies go. If he can play enough magic innings to give West Indies defendable scores, they could threaten. Players to watch: Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Squad: 1 Brian Lara (captain), 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 3 Ricardo Powell, 4 Stuart Williams, 5 Sherwin Campbell, 6 Keith Arthurton, 7 Ridley Jacobs, 8 Phil Simmons, 9 Curtly Ambrose, 10 Courtney Walsh, 11 Jimmy Adams, 12 Henderson Bryan, 13 Mervyn Dillon, 14 Nehemiah Perry, 15 Reon King.

Coming to peak at the right time after recent tournament wins and have classy new speedster, Shoaib Ahktar. At their best tournament winner. Players to watch: Wasim Akram, Saeed Anwar, Shoaib Ahktar.

Squad: 1 Wasim Akram (captain), 2 Moin Khan, 3 Salim Malik, 4 Ijaz Ahmed, 5 Waqar Younis, 6 Saeed Anwar, 7 Mushtaq Ahmed, 8 Inzamam-ul-Haq, 9 Saqlain Mushtaq, 10 Shahid Afridi, 11 Azhar Mahmood, 12 Abdur Razzak, 13 Yousuf Youhana, 14 Shoaib Akhtar, 15 Wajahatullah Wasti.

Possible upsetter. Overlooked by some, but should go closer than most expect. Players to watch: Nathan Astle, Chris Cairns, Craig McMillan.

Squad: 1 Stephen Fleming (captain), 2 Geoff Allott, 3 Nathan Astle, 4 Carl Bulfin, 5 Chris Cairns, 6 Simon Doull, 7 Chris Harris, 8 Matthew Hart, 9 Matthew Horne, 10 Gavin Larsen, 11 Craig McMillan, 12 Dion Nash, 13 Adam Parore, 14 Roger Twose, 15 Daniel Vettori.

Making up the numbers.

Squad: 1 Aminul Islam (captain), 2 Akram Khan, 3 Faruque Ahmed, 4 Shahriar Hossain, 5 Mehrab Hossain, 6 Enamul Hoque, 7 Nayemur Rashid, 8 Naimur Rahman, 9 Khaled Mahmud, 10 Khaled Masood, 11 Mohammad Rafiq, 12 Shafiuddin Ahmed, 13 Hasibul Hossain, 14 Manjurul Islam 15, Minhajul Abedin.

Might be brave, but little else. Player to watch: Gavin Hamilton (England Cup squad member).

Squad: 1 George Salmond (captain), 2 Iain Philip, 3 Mike Allingham, 4 John Blain, 5 James Brinkley, 6 Asim Butt, 7 Alex Davies, 8 Nick Dyer, 9 Gavin Hamilton, 10 Bruce Patterson 11, Keith Sheridan 12, Mike Smith 13, Ian Stanger, 14 Peter Steindl, 15 Greig Williamson.

Source :: The Christchurch Press (https://www.press.co.nz/)