Showtime for Super Sixes (3 June 1999)

3 June 1999

Showtime for Super Sixes

Trevor Chesterfield

London - Messrs Duckworth and Lewis have yet to make their debut in World Cup '99 yet the very thought the weather factor may make its shower-laden bow at The Oval today is far from pleasant. England, whose embarrassing departure at Edgbaston came after rain affected their game against India, would have been hard put to reach any sort of run adjustment had the dreaded D/L bogey been brought into play.

Now Australia and India face the prospect of a weather related result if the clouds floating around the south of England unload their lot on both sides and long enough to affect play for the D/L formula to be given an opportunity to either fall on its face or make a miserable equation which neither sides understand. Already D/L have come under scrutiny when in the so-call warm-ups teams were give theoretical targets to chase. And they did not stand up to careful examination.

As it is the start of the Super Sixes is full of the usual fire and brimstone rhetoric: Glenn McGrath aggro against the beguiling charm of Sachin Tendulkar on day one of the second phase is the sort of pre-match hype which attracts the mindless tabloids to dish up such tasteless headlines as 'What's the score Gungadin?' Yet there is far more to it than the Mirror's puny effort at a pun on Saurav Ganguly's name.

Both sides approach the game with some trepidation knowing all too well how defeat could end their chances of advancing up the ladder. Both have no points and feel that to have come in at the bottom end of the log scale was not so much drawing the short straw as being lucky at being able to draw one at all. If it means anything, Shane Warne did not turn his arm over at all in the nets yesterday, resting it after waking up in the morning with it being a little stiff. And then Steve Waugh, the Aussie captain, a man as short on words as he is when it comes to making a joke, dismissed the alleged McGrath-Tendulkar conflict as being of no account at all. Which is just about right.

What he did say which was interesting was that Tendulkar was one of three world class batsmen in the India side. Whether much can be read into this is another matter, but chances are Tendulkar could move back to open the innings with Ganguly and the ever elegant Rahul Dravid stay at three. Not too much ahs been made of Bobby Simpson's role in the India camp as consulting coach, but you could see the way the Indians go about their training and fielding work rate the former Aussie captain and coach has already had an influence on the side.

Their fielding is far better than it has been in recent months and you get the impression talking to Mohammad Azharuddin that Simmo has been the man behind the India renaissance in recent months. If Simpson has done much to turn Dravid into the high class act he has become, India should encourage the Australian influence. It is good for some and good for India.

Yet the reality is that defeat for either side is going to make it that much harder while for South Africa Hansie Cronje knows too well the value of the team's second 'wake up' call this year: the first being against New Zealand in Dunedin. Cronje's let his players know all about it as well. Which was merely repeating the thoughts the coach, Bob Woolmer, translated for the media at Chelmsford last Saturday after the Zimbabwe defeat. South Africa meet Pakistan tomorrow knowing all too well they tossed away two valuable log points and there is no good complaining; just get on with the job of qualifying for the semi-finals. So far Pakistan have played around with their side to the extent they were confident of winning matches without the leg-spinner Mushtaq and the king of in-swinging yorkers Waqar Younis. Now the pair may be given time off for good behaviour and get a chance to trundle out their wares, if indeed they have transgressed some team code which has led to them being punished.

If they have no one is aware of it, not even the gutter or sewer press. On Sunday we have the game where Zimbabwe are hoping to make a little history by beating New Zealand. Much has been made by Zim's win over the Safs and how the Kiwis are lucky to be in the Super Sixes. What a truck load of cow fertiliser. There are times when there is the impression the Kiwis win over Australia is the only one they deserve. As with Zimbabwe going through so to do the Kiwis deserve their place in the final six. The game at Headingley is going to decide whether Zimbabwe are going to make it into the semi-finals.

We had Courtney Walsh, David Graveney and Ian Chappell agreeing with that one; nothing for the Kiwis, who still have a chance to sneak through. It'll be tough but wins over India and Zimbabwe ... well, anything is possible, unless it is not fouled up by the vagaries of Messrs Duckworth and Lewis and the unfriendly weather forecaster.