The World Cricket Weblog - Mar. 25 - Mar. 31

Sunday, March 30, 2003:::

West Indies take aim at Waugh
Fast bowler Mervyn Dillon says the West Indies will target Steve Waugh with a barrage of short-pitched deliveries as they desperately try to win back lost respect against Australia in their Test series beginning next week.
Source: The Herald Sun, Australia

Windies my favourite tour
While there is nothing that can compare with a full Ashes tour in terms of history, tradition and getting to know your teammates, a Caribbean tour is still my favourite, writes Australian Test captain Steve Waugh.
Source: The Australian, Australia

Cricket eats into Bollywood moolah
Having taken a pounding in the last two years with losses running into several crores, Bollywood started 2003 on the wrong foot with the World Cup Cricket mania in the country leaving the industry high and dry during the first three months of the year.
Source: Sify.com

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posted at 12:55 p.m. IST

Sunday, March 30, 2003:::

Ponting's men got it right in every respect
The Australians were far and away the least sentimental, most spirited and professional team in the 2003 Cricket World Cup. As with the cases solved by Sherlock Holmes, it was the little things that told the story. Asked to absolve his famous leg-spinner in a manner nowadays more available to Australian captains than to humble citizens such as Popes, Ricky Ponting refused to do so.
Source: The Sunday Times, South Africa

BCCI hasn't paid player wages in 10 months
Remember the glorious night of the NatWest final? Our cricketers weren't even paid for that. Everyone talks about the money Indian cricketers make but here is the other side of the story. India's cricketing heroes have not been paid their salaries for the past 10 months.
Source: The Indian Express, India

Mandira Bedi now on the war front
After intense international competition, the famous ZYX TV Channel succeeded in hiring the most famous TV personality around, Mandira Bedi of India, and immediately posted her to cover the Gulf War in Iraq. And this was how the great Bedi continued from where she had left--the World Cup Cricket...
Source: The Tribune, India

Buchanan's brain the secret of Australia's success
Ask a sporting audience to outline John Buchanan's contribution to Australia's irresistible World Cup campaign and the answer would probably be: "John who?" Which would be fine by the coach.
Source: The Independent, UK

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posted at 12:45 p.m. IST

Saturday, March 29, 2003:::

Caddick's departure leaves gap in experience
Andrew Caddick, who announced his retirement from one-day cricket yesterday, may prove more difficult to replace than some suppose. His withdrawal will help the selectors as they restructure the one-day side but they could have done with the Somerset misfit for another summer during a period of transition.
Source: The Guardian, UK

An interview with Carl L Hooper
"I thought I was fit enough to play in the World Cup. If I had to do it again, I'd do it the same way. I did realize it was my last World Cup and you desperately want to play. Having said that I don't think I was as fit certainly from a mobility point of view."
Source: CaribbeanCricket.com

"There's every reason for hope"
"Pakistan has enough talent to bounce back quickly, especially now when the influences which derailed it so often in the last 10 years or so have been weeded out," says PCB chief Lt Gen Tauqir Zia
Source: The Daily Times, Pakistan

Back to his best, Hirwani waits for spin to turn his way
Amid all the heroics of India's pace battery and talk of young guns waiting in the wings, one story has gone almost unnoticed: Narendra Hirwani, last seen carrying drinks for the Indian team two years ago, and last remembered for his feats in 1988, has become far and away the most successful bowler in domestic cricket this season.
Source: The Indian Express, India

Hansie killed by negligence?
Poor maintenance of landing instruments at the George airport and a decision to save money rather than replace some of the instruments, could have contributed to the crash in which the former South African cricket captain, Hansie Cronje and two pilots were killed last year.
Source: News24, South Africa

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posted at 11:15 a.m. IST

Friday, March 28, 2003:::

Boucher willing if selectors still keen
Incumbent national vice-captain, Mark Boucher, who was in Cape Town for a report-back meeting to the national cricket committee on the World Cup, said that he had made himself available for the vice-captaincy again, should the national selectors want him.
Source: Business Day, South Africa

Tournament misses chance to capture public's imagination
In many ways the organisers could not have asked for more from the 2003 World Cup. All the stars turned up - even if one went home early because of something his mum gave him - and most performed at some stage. However, Angus Fraser reflects on what has taken place during the past six weeks and cannot help but feel there has been something missing from this tournament.
Source: The Independent, UK

A cricket heathen in India
I swung the bat, heard the satisfying crack of a solid connection and sent the ball across the street well into the courtyard of the government school. Kids with freshly pressed uniforms and bare feet chittered happily and scampered after the ball while henna-haired middle-age men nodded approvingly. Six runs. At least, I think it was six runs. As an American, I know nothing about cricket. And trying to learn cricket in the chaos of India is like studying for the bar in the middle of a circus.
Source: The New York Times, USA

Already missing those World Cup booze queues
You could have heard a samosa drop as the first sounds of "Underneath the Southern Cross" began to bounce off the dark, empty cavern of the Wanderers after the World Cup final on Sunday.
Source: The Independent Online, South Africa

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posted at 12:45 p.m. IST

Thursday, March 27, 2003:::

Back home too, Mongia is true to form
At almost the same time teammate Harbhajan Singh entered his Jalandhar home to the beating of drums, with thick garlands around his neck and blowing of trumpets, the number seven batsman in the Indian team sneaked into the city and later his home in Sector 40 on Wednesday afternoon in his trademark way: quietly.
Source: The Indian Express, India

Durban official boycotts Warne visit
Durban's deputy mayor has boycotted a visit by disgraced Australian cricketer Shane Warne to the city. South African newspaper "The Daily News" led its front page with a report headlined "Shameless Warne," in which the participation of the leg-spinner in an event targeted at schoolchildren was questioned.
Source: ABC Online, Australia

Parthiv gives board exams a miss
It was day two of the board exams and Parthiv Patel, the baby of the Indian squad who returned to the city on Tuesday after his South African safari, didn't appear for his exam on Wednesday. The State Government had rejected requests from the family and school authorities for a re-examination at a later date.
Source: The Indian Express, India

England slash central contracts
England are set to reduce the number of central contracts they award as they begin to count the cost of the Zimbabwe affair. The chairman of selectors David Graveney and coach Duncan Fletcher wanted to award 11 six-month contracts this summer, augmenting the nine players who are halfway through 12-month contracts.
Source: The Guardian, UK

Rebuilding of Pakistan to take a year - Miandad
Pakistan coach Javed Miandad Wednesday hoped that the rebuilding phase of the cricket team would complete inside 12 months but warned that it would require total dedication and commitment.
Source: The Pakistan Tribune, Pakistan

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posted at 11:35 a.m. IST

Wednesday, March 26, 2003:::

Tendulkar among India's billionaires
Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan are joint 17th in India's top 20 Billionaire's Club, according to a new report.
Source: Rediff, India

Indians were intimidated by the Australians: Steve Waugh
Steve Waugh on Tuesday rated Australia's World Cup final win as among the most comprehensive in one-day history. Waugh said the Indians appeared intimidated by the Australians, who recorded a historic 125-run victory that Waugh described as "great".
Source: The Australian, Australia

Ponting: from pariah to messiah
Ricky Ponting, captain combustible of Australia's World Cup-winning team, may be joking when he lists Milo as his favourite drink, but he has obviously reinvented himself since that infamous late-night boozing session at the Bourbon and Beefsteak in Kings Cross four years ago.
Source: The Age, Australia

Ganguly did not captain India well in the final
While I support Ganguly's decision to bowl, I felt he didn't captain the team well. He waited far too long too change his new ball bowlers and I felt that he should have replaced both the new ball bowlers after two overs each with Nehra and himself, writes former Australian captain Bobby Simpson.
Source: The Indian Express, India

Dravid defends Tendulkar
Rahul Dravid has responded angrily to claims that Sachin Tendulkar only performs in unimportant matches. Speaking to mediamen, Dravid rubbished such claims as "absolutely ridiculous".
Source: Mid-day, India

Silent Shane Warne slips into Durban
Shane Warne, the brilliant Australian spin bowler whose World Cup was ruined by a failed drugs test, arrived in Durban last night to fulfil a long-held obligation.
Source: The Mercury, South Africa

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posted at 1:25 p.m. IST

Tuesday, March 25, 2003:::

Cup revenue will aid ailing provinces
The cricket World Cup, which ended at the Wanderers on Sunday, has thrown a financial lifeline to a number of struggling South African cricket unions. Of the 11 provincial Unions, more than half have been operating in the red.
Source: The Dispatch Online, South Africa

Catch us if you can, says Australian coach
Australia coach John Buchanan insists his team has room for improvement after retaining the World Cup with a 125-run thrashing of India in a lop-sided final. Buchanan issued a "catch us if you can" challenge to the rest of world cricket after his side, commonly viewed as the best Test outfit around, stretched their world record run of consecutive one-day triumphs to 17.
Source: AFP in the New Straits Times, Malaysia

We have seen the future of the World Cup and it is green and golden
If Australia, as their coach John Buchanan suggested in the post-match euphoria at the Wanderers on Sunday, have not even come close to scaling the heights of one-day cricket, then everyone else had better do something about it, and sharpish, if the next World Cup in the Caribbean is not to be another cakewalk.
Source: The Guardian, UK

Predikta completes great innings on MAX
Navroze Dhondy, country head, Quintus, and CEO, Creatigies, is a happy man. Predikta, the interactive TV game run by Quintas on the World Cup wrap-around programme Extraa Innings on MAX, has seen "no less than a couple of million people" participating in it. "In contrast, during the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka last year, 1.35 million people participated in Predikta," chuckles Dhondy.
Source: AgencyFAQS.com

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posted at 2:10 p.m. IST