The real disappointment (4 June 1999)
The Super Six round of the World Cup gets underway today with Australia and India, two former champions, squaring off at The Oval in the first of what promises to be nine thrilling encounters before the top four move into the semi-finals
04-Jun-1999
4 June 1999
The real disappointment
Tony Becca
The Super Six round of the World Cup gets underway today with
Australia and India, two former champions, squaring off at The Oval
in the first of what promises to be nine thrilling encounters before
the top four move into the semi-finals.
With Pakistan, another former champion, South Africa, New Zealand and
Zimbabwe the other teams still in contention, those missing in action
include the West Indies - champions in 1975 and 1979, Sri Lanka - the
outgoing champions, and England who, for the first time, failed to
move out of the first round.
For those three Test-playing teams it was a bitter disappointment -
if not so much for Sri Lanka, who probably did not fancy their
chances and won two matches and lost three, certainly for the West
Indies and England who had their eyes on the Cup and who, like
Australia and New Zealand in one group, India and Zimbabwe in the
other, finished with identical records of three victories and two
losses but failed to advance because of inferior runrate.
As disappointing as it was for their fans, however, based on their
performances none of them deserved a place in the Super Six. They all
batted badly and with the West Indies losing to Pakistan and
Australia and defeating New Zealand, Bangladesh and Scotland, with
England losing to South Africa and India and defeating Sri Lanka,
Zimbabwe and Kenya and with Sri Lanka losing to South Africa, England
and India and defeating Zimbabwe and Kenya, they all lost to the good
teams and defeated those they were expected to defeat. On top of
that, they failed to rise to the occasion.
When the West Indies played Australia, victory for the Windies would
have sent them into the second round and knocked out Australia. They
lost easily. And when England played India, victory for the hosts
would have sent them through. They too lost easily.
In contrast to those performances, while the West Indies and England
failed to make it because they played true to form and failed to rise
to the occasion, India, one-two down after three, made it because
they defeated Sri Lanka and then England, New Zealand got in because
they eclipsed Australia, Australia got in because they routed the
West Indies and, in the surprise of the tournament, Zimbabwe crashed
the party not only because they upset India early but because, with
the door closing on them and a moment of glory beckoning, they
knocked off South Africa in their final match of the round.
Looking back at the West Indies performance, there may have been many
reasons for it and fingers will be pointed at captain Brian Lara, not
only for his poor batting but also for some strange bowling changes
and his field-placings against Bangladesh and New Zealand, and having
failed to make it on net runrate, at both Lara and manager Clive
Lloyd for the team's lack of urgency - especially against Bangladesh
when, despite losing only three wickets, the West Indies took 46.3
overs to reach the target of 183 runs.
The truth, however, is that the West Indies were knocked out of the
World Cup because of their poor batting and their batting did not go
bad during the World Cup.
The Windies batting has been poor for some time. It was poor in
Pakistan where they lost all three Test matches, in South Africa
where they lost all five Test matches and six of the seven one-day
internationals, and but for Lara, it was, apart from a few good
innings here and there by James Adams, Sherwin Campbell and Ridley
Jacobs, poor against Australia.
To drop out of the World Cup after the first round was disappointing,
but despite all the hope, it was not surprising, and despite all the
talk about what the West Indies Board should do, the West Indies
performance, but for the days when the big guns strike, will continue
to be disappointing until the governments in the region, the
territorial boards, the clubs and the schools do something about it.
Apart from selecting the best players, the West Indies Board, as the
ruling body, obviously has a role to play. The West Indies team,
however, is only the showpiece of West Indies cricket. Development,
which includes good technique and character, pride and
responsibility, must start at the lower levels.
The West Indies selectors can only select from what is presented to
them. Right now, especially where batting and fielding are concerned,
there is not much from which to select. That is what is
disappointing.
Source :: The Jamaica Gleaner