Harris ready for Waugh (20 May 1999)

20 May 1999

Harris ready for Waugh

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph

Former Ramsbottom pro Chris Harris was ready for a real World Cup baptism against Australia at Cardiff today.

Harris, who spent three seasons at Acre Bottom between 1995-7, was part of the Kiwi side which made it's Cup bow with a comprehensive victory over Bangladesh on Monday.

And two wickets for left arm seamer Geoff Allott had the Aussies on the ropes before Ricky Ponting and Darren Lehman staged a recovbery to 61-2 before rain stopped play after 16 overs today.

But the Kiwis were still expecting their arch rivals from the Southern Hemisphere to represent a more accurate test of their World Cup mettle.

"Games don't get much bigger than New Zealand against Australia," said Harris.

"And this one's even more crucial because whoever wins will probably go through to the Super-Sixes.

"Our three warm up games gave everyone a good chance to get settled.

"But it's hard to judge how we are shaping up so far because we've only played Bangladesh, although it was great to get a convincing win under our belts."

The star-studded Aussies are sure to be a tougher nut to crack.

But Harris and his Kiwi team-mates fear no-one.

"All their players are very, very useful and they're all capable of doing us damage on their day," said Harris.

"But we're more concerned about the whole set up rather than any specific individuals.

"They're like us.

"The strength in our team is our all-round ability.

"We've got guys who can bat right down and people who can chip in with the ball if needs be.

"And I think we can go all the way and win the World Cup, otherwise there'd be no point in us being here."

While the Kiwis made a solid start against Bangladesh, Australia struggled to impress in defeating Scotland.

Captain Steve Waugh described their out-cricket as atrocious, and they were forced to undergo extra fielding practice after the game.

Three dropped catches and a string of missed run-out chances caused major alarm in the camp in the Aussie camp.

Coach Geoff Marsh said: "Our fielding was disappointing. I don't think it could get any worse than it did on Sunday. Let's hope it was one of those days that's come and gone but we do need to improve. In practice, we need to make sure we don't become casual."

Waugh was angered by his side's display at Worcester and is looking for a marked upturn in their display tomorrow.

He said: "I would give us four out of 10 for the way we played against Scotland. I thought our fielding was very poor. The bowling was not too bad, but I thought our batting looked like it needed a run.

"All aspects of our game have to improve but the fielding in particular - you cannot afford to drop three chances against really good teams."

Zimbabwe skipper Alistair Campbell saluted triple wicket taker Henry Olonga after he went from villain to hero to clinch a dramatic World Cup triumph over India at Grace Road.

Olonga looked as if he was in for a day to forget after his opening spell was littered with wides as India looked on course to reach a 253 target in 46 overs. But Campbell handed Olonga the ball for one last throw of the dice and he picked up the wickets of Robin Singh, Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad in the space of five balls.

It leaves Zimbabwe level on maximum points with England and South Africa after two matches but India now have a mountain to climb in their bid to reach the Super Six.

Campbell admitted: "I thought it was all up and if we had kept the medium pacers or spinners on then India would have picked off the singles they needed to win.

"I had to do something out of the ordinary and when you bring a fast bowler back there is always a chance that something might happen and Henry did the trick.

"He hadn't had a great day up until then but I went for my gut feeling and had no fears about giving him the ball because he had done the business for me before.

Coach Jim Love still believes there is huge room for improvement as Scotland continued their World Cup campaign against Pakistan at Durham today with a promising start.

Pakistan were 36-2 from the opening eight overs.

The Scots went down to a creditable six-wicket defeat at the hands of Australia in the first of their five-match qualifying programme, with Mike Allingham providing an early contender for catch of the tournament with his stunning boundary swoop to dismiss Ricky Ponting. Life was never easy for the below-par Australians, even though they eventually wrapped up the win they had expected.

Source :: The Lancashire Evening Telegraph