Sport

Look at how the game has moved on

March 14 - 21, 2007

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The inaugural final of the Cricket World Cup in 1975 between the West Indies and Australia has proved to be the most exciting in the competition’s brief history.

The Caribbean side’s 17 run victory was played out on a glorious English summer’s day with a Clive Lloyd century being the highlight.
However, it was the match between England and India that best demonstrates how the game has moved on.
In that match the home side scored over 300 runs, a rare achievement then even though the format was over 60 overs. So rare that the Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar decided it was an impossible target and played out the 50 over’s scoring 36 runs and leaving his team on 132 for 3.
The idea of this ever happening today is completely unthinkable when a total of 300 is common place and since the South Africans chased down 432 against Australia - no score is out of bounds.
The new pitches in the West Indies, small outfields and universally heavy bats suggest this could be an exceptionally high-scoring tournament. Expect a plethora of sixes particularly in the first and last 10 overs of an innings.
England’s chances rest entirely on the performances of two men, Pietersan and Flintoff. The belated success at the end of the Ashes tour cannot hide the dismal one day record of this side.
An unmotivated Australian side and a below-strength New Zealand will be an entirely different prospect during the intensity of a World Cup.
The comfortable five wicket loss to Australia on Friday is an indication of the task facing England.
The only true world class players in the side will have to perform throughout the tournament.
Pieterson, coming back from injury, has the potential to be the best player of this World Cup while Flintoff can perform consistently to support him. A place in the semi finals is a possibility but on the basis of form and talent this is still highly unlikely.
A complete lack of planning and a bemusing selection of players over the past 24 months by the England management team have left their chances more on a wing and a prayer than a realistic opportunity of success.
Compare this to some of the other teams with sights on lifting the trophy - most of whom have better pedigrees in this format of the game and it is a wide open competition.
Even the Australians are suffering through the injury to Andrew Symonds and their heavy defeats to New Zealand in the recent series. However, they are still the deserving favourites albeit “drifting ones” according to skipper Ricky Ponting and they are the team to beat not having lost a World Cup game for 18 matches.
The other contenders all have positives in their favour not least the West Indies who apart from the obvious home advantage have Chris Gayle, one of the most destructive batsmen in the world, along with Brian Lara’s swansong and a collective team spirit that enabled them to win the Champions Trophy.
They will have every chance of doing well but if they don’t they will have to answer the accusations that Michael Holding has been making that they care more about the money than the glory of winning.
South Africa has the collective unit but usually fail to deliver at the big events and Pakistan are struggling with bans to top players and an inability to be consistent over a whole tournament. Their fielding is also suspect and this is a vital part of the modern game.
The finalists last time, India are always a side that can possibly lift the trophy but at the moment some of their players, and in particular, Sehwag, are out of form and struggling to make the impact required at the highest level.
New Zealand meanwhile, always tipped as dark horses are traditionally vulnerable to one of the top sides.
That leaves Sri Lanka and their combination of being a collective unit but having the talented individuals to make the ultimate difference.
In Sangakarea and Jayasuriya they have possibly the highest scorers in the tournament but they also have the experience and steadying influence of Jayawardene in the middle order and Vaas bowling at the death not to mention Muralitharan and his extraordinary spin bowling.
If any team is going to topple the dominance of the Australians then it is the 1995 champions with their flair and knowledge for this format of the game.
One thing is for certain, it is going to be a long slog to find out as this competition is played by 16 countries over 54 days. This is a far cry from the eight teams over two weeks that the 1975 tournament had on offer, perhaps another reason to reminisce fondly about the past.