World Cup Diary (15 May 1999)

15 May 1999

World Cup Diary

Simon Hughes

Over the next 37 days, we'll see some mesmerising acts, some trickery and some miraculous escapes. And then what? Well, if England don't come close to clinching the $300,000 (£186,000) first prize, then not much. The carnival will have blown in and blown out leaving nothing but memories and large swathes of dead grass where the tents have been.

A fantastic opportunity to kick-start cricket's rejuvenation in this country could be missed. For almost two months, we have here on our doorstep 180 of the best cricketers in the world, including some of the greatest foreign players of all time - Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Akram.

None of these have been actively recruited to help nurture our grass-roots. Various squad members have attended coaching sessions on some grounds but in most cases, the events haven't been nearly grand or far-reaching enough.

All four should have been contracted for major kids' open days in Leicester, inner-city Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff. Or take them further afield, to the game's outposts - Norwich, Plymouth and Carlisle.

Instead, these leading players (with the exception of Warne) can barely be raised for a 10-minute interview. A legion of obstructive managers and incompetent press officers stand in the way, allowing the naturally reluctant players off the hook. That and the over-complicated Duckworth-Lewis system - a PR mess - are hampering the percolation of the game among the uninitiated.

At least one disadvantaged group have benefited. Four of the Australians - Michael Bevan, Adam Dale, Damien Fleming and Shane Lee - visited the Royal School for the Blind in Worcester, and donned blacked-out goggles to play a match against some of them. The Australians lost. So, there's hope for England yet.

IrrespectivE of how the official team do, there's a major Australian influence on this tournament. Nine commentators have flown in from Down Under, including Jeff Thomson, Bill Lawry and Allan Border, New Zealand are coached by Steve Rixon, Australia's occasional wicketkeeper between 1977 and 1984, Bob Simpson is working with the Indians, and Trevor Chappell is the Sri Lankans' fielding coach.

Simpson is something of a cricketing apostle, a man who travels extensively furthering the game in far-off lands. He's worked in Africa, Asia and, of course, at Leicester, sharpening attitudes and technique, cultivating a legion of slip fielders braced in an upright Mark Taylor-like stance rather than the more slovenly at-ease approach. Not surprisingly, having seen the Leicester he influenced win two championships, he says: "I'd love to come back and coach another county."

Chappell's effect will be intriguing. He claims to be trying to convert the Sri Lankans' ground-fielding style from an amiable escort service into more sliding and throwing, though the chances of seeing Arjuna Ranatunga diving around are about as high as Alec Stewart inviting him to his child's christening. One thing's for sure, their close-range underarming at the stumps should improve.

Another former Test captain flying in from afar to work on the World Cup was Jeremy Coney. Or so he hoped.

The New Zealander arrived on Thursday morning to commentate for Test Match Special for the rest of the summer, but was detained by immigration at Heathrow for failing to bring a work permit. After a lengthy delay, during which his temporary employers, the BBC, had to fill out a 10-page form, he was allowed in. Coney, incidentally, was the guy who remembered to take his guitar on his first New Zealand tour, but forgot his cricket boots.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)