Wello's Cricket World

So the 2007 Cricket World Cup is almost upon us and with it the prospect of some severe mismatches between the 8 heavyweight test playing nations and the flyweight ICC teams there just to make up the numbers. Or so you might think....

Despite their relative lack of quality, there is more than enough evidence to suggest that one or more of the lesser fancied sides might upset one of the big boys in the coming weeks. One of the reasons is the nature of Carribean pitches, which are no longer the fast and bouncy wickets of yesteryear. Whereas 20 years ago, visiting batsman could gaze down at a West Indies wicket and see their reflection in a gleaming, grassless surface; now their view will encompass a worn out piece of baked mud devoid of any real life. On such surfaces, the lesser bowler can be just as much of a handful as the test specialist, since the lack of pace makes it that much harder for batsmen to score their runs.

The spinner also comes into his own on these wickets and anyone who witnessed Bermudan Policeman Dwayne Leverock luring the mighty Kevin Pietersen to his doom can see that the slow bowlers will have a significant effect on this years tournament. Leverock's post match comment that he thought Pietersen was looking to 'tuck-in' to him said it all - anybody who tries to steal food from the gigantic left-arm tweaker is indeed a foolish man.

As well as helpful conditions to boost their chances, the ICC nations themselves have improved greatly in recent years. All the ICC teams in the World cup have been playing regular 50 over cricket in the ICC World League with Kenya proving the outstanding side, and their narrow loss to the West Indies yesterday attests to that. Ireland are also very competitive and in 2004 they beat the West Indies and Surrey in the space of 5 weeks, easily chasing down totals in excess of 260. They gave South Africa a torrid time this week after bowling them out for 192 and would have undoubtedly won but for Andrew Hall's heroics.

Scotland, Holland and Canada are all dangerous and capable of pulling off an upset if they catch a big side having a bad day. From the test playing section, Bangladesh will prove a major threat to any side showing a complacent attitude and their one-day cricket in particular continues to improve apace. New Zealand found this out to their cost yesterday and after thrashing the Australians 3-0 in their recent home series, Stephen Fleming's men have certainly experienced the highs and lows of this enduringly unpredictable game.

So an upset is definitely on the cards. Without tempting fate, and whilst praying that England aren't one of the unfortunate victims, I'll have a cheeky wager that there will be at least one shock result and that any one of Kenya, Ireland and Bangladesh will be the source.

Wello

Keen followers of England's World Cup history will be aware that their efforts in the early years of the competition were highly competent right up to the final, of which they have reached three without actually winning the ultimate one-day cricketing prize.

In recent tournaments, England's performances have stuttered along without any indication that they have got up to speed with the new developments in limited overs cricket such as pinch hitters and slower balls, resulting in three successive first round exits. The question now is: Can the England of 2007 upset the odds and prosper where their more experienced predecessors have failed?

The main factor in England's favour is the open nature of the tournament, where any one of the eight major test nations could emerge victorious. Though Australia remain favourites, their travails in the recent series in New Zealand and loss to England in the Commonwealth Bank finals has shown the rest of the world that the world champions have several weaknesses, particularly in their bowling attack.

England gained enormous confidence in winning that tournament after a horrible start when they seemed completely without hope. That they did so without their best batsman (Kevin Pietersen), best captain (Michael Vaughan), and several experienced bowlers stands them in great credit. Some young players stood up and took the opportunity to demonstrate their talent in Australia, notably Ed Joyce and Liam Plunkett. Joyce has the ability to find the off-side boundary regularly with his sublime timing whilst Plunkett, though frustratingly innaccurate with the new white ball, has the priceless knack of getting out the best batsmen with some superb deliveries.

England's middle order has been strengthened by the return of Pietersen and the resumption of normal service for the reliable Paul Collingwood, so often the glue that knits together the England innings. At the top of the card, Michael Vaughan, despite his moderate record in one-day cricket, offers a touch of real class and his 62 against Australia in last week's warm-up game contained some exquisite strokes. Ian Bell continues to look a very fine player without going on to make the really big scores that would silence those that doubt his place in the team. What would help England's chances so much would be a return to form for Andrew Flintoff, who has to have the highest % of dismissals caught on the boundary for a top 6 batsman in history.

Freddie's inability to use his batting brain properly results in England fans up and down the country swearing and shouting at the TV in disgust as he predictably gets caught at long on/deep midwicket once again, before sending each other text messages along the lines of 'What the XXXX was he thinking?'

At least his bowling shows no sign of deteriorating, and Flintoff, along with Monty Panesar, represent the bankers in the England bowling line up. James Anderson will probably open the bowling and if he can progress with the zippy swing he demonstrated after the Ashes had finished, he has every chance of making early breakthroughs. Plunkett looks set to start offering England a new ball pairing of Anderson & Plunkett and an opposition score of either 35 for 3 after 10 or 78 for 0 - as for which is anybody's guess. With the West Indies pitches favouring turn, Jamie Dalrymple must play offering canny spin in the middle of the innings and useful hitting towards the end.

Paul Nixon, much criticised in the early stages of the Commonwealth Bank series, will be crucial to England's prospects with his encouragement of fielders and annoyance of opposing batsmen. His ability to stand up to the part-timers like Collingwood and possibly Bell, will be a vital weapon in England's bowling armoury.

As for a prediction for England's chances......I haven't got a clue. If they throw away the many good starts they make in the middle of the innings as so often happens, they'll be also-rans. If, however, they can use their nous between overs 20-40 and demonstrate the same sort of resolve they showed when winning in Australia, with KP back in the side they might just win it.

Enjoy,

Wello

The world of professional cricket coaching is a relatively small one, so the sudden passing of Bob Woolmer has hit those who make their living teaching the sport extremely hard. Bob Woolmer was a legend in the coaching community. He was the first of the real innovators in the game and always wanted to challenge accepted norms to see if he could give a competitive advantage to his players.

His impact in South Africa started before he began coaching the national side, as he helped the Cape Coloured Avendale Cricket Club in Cape Town adjust to premier league cricket with great success. He had a major role in bringing Boland up from 'B' grade status into 1st class cricket in the South African provincial championship, unearthing several future national players in the process.

His effect on Warwickshire was unprecedented and in the mid-90's they became the powerhouse side in English county cricket based upon a team ethic and unconventional tactics fostered by Woolmer and the then captain Dermot Reeve. Alan Donald, Warwickshire's favourite overseas player, used to contact Woolmer for advice frequently when on national duty and this prompted the South African authorities to employ him as soon as he was available.

Under Woolmer, South Africa became the only side that could consistently challenge the might of Australia and during the 1999 World Cup, they looked the strongest team on show and would surely have won the competition but for the amazing finish to the Edgbaston semi-final when Donald found himself bizarrely run out with the scores tied and Australia on the brink of defeat.

That defeat hurt Woolmer deeply as it did the whole of the South African team. Moving on from coaching them, he had another stint at Warwickshire before joining the ICC's development programme for non-test playing sides as their High Performance Director. The irony that Bob's last game in charge should result in his Pakistan side losing to an Ireland team he helped improve is typical of cricket.

Coaching Pakistan is the hardest job in world cricket and in the last year alone, Woolmer had to deal with forfeited test matches, failed drug tests, government interference with his team and player fallouts amongst other things. Perhaps the stress of running a side who always appear to be in a chaotic state proved too much for him. Whatever the reasons, the loss of Bob Woolmer represents the saddest day the world of cricket has had for many years. Our thoughts go out to his family at this most difficult of times and we remember a man who gave everything he had to cricket, and then some.

R.I.P Bob,

Wello

So the sad death of Bob Woolmer has turned out to be foul play, leaving the cricketing world reeling with fears of where this terrible saga may lead. Not a day has passed since Jamaican detectives declared that Woolmer had been murdered without some new theory or speculation as to how and why the Pakistan coach met his end.

In amongst all the rumour and suspicion, there can be only one sensible course of action - wait and see how the investigation turns out before making rash judgements. Undeniably, things don't look good at the moment and the fact that Woolmer had tended his resignation after the most calamitous defeat in Pakistan's cricket history only adds to the intrigue. But that said, it still doesn't equate to proof of some vast conspiracy amongst the team's hierarchy. The Pakistan team's reputation has already been damaged by the ball tampering affair at the Oval and the drug taking of Mohammed Asif and Shoaib Akthar, resulting in many people deciding they must have some knowledge of the events of last week.

If that turns out to be true - and all cricket lovers must be praying it doesn't - the game's reputation will plummet to new depths from which it will be hard pressed to recover. Whatever happens in the future and wherever the Police investigation does lead, all we can hope is that a great cricket coach is remembered for the work he did on behalf of his sport and that whoever perpetrated this awful crime is brought to justice as soon as possible.

Wello