Australians look jaded

There have been quite a few surprises in this World Cup. The interesting format of the competition and the uncertain form of several good...

There have been quite a few surprises in this World Cup. The interesting format of the competition and the uncertain form of several good teams have thrown this tournament wide open. The weather has held out so far, and the tremendous interest shown by spectators, especially from the sub continent, has ensured that the championship has an interesting run.

In Group B, the team to suffer an ignominious defeat through poor form has been Australia. Their first challenge was to counter New Zealand, the surprise package of the tournament, and then take the Pakistanis head on in an important fixture. In the first case, the Australians gave in meekly to the Kiwis, who are at best, an efficient unit devoid of class and charisma.

The Aussies have looked rusty and jaded in this World Cup, and their hopes of qualifying for the Super Six were dented further by the unstoppable Pakistanis who carved through them with brilliant batting and later with a tremendous display of reverse swing. Inzamam, Razzak and Moin onceagain proved that the team has an uncanny ability to bounce back from seemingly hopeless situations. They were led from the front by Wasim Akram, who marshalled his talented troop of bowlers intelligently, and later delivered the death blow in yet another magical last over. Obviously, the ploy of playing five regular bowlers has been working well for Pakistan, and this was what saw them through against the never-say-die Aussies.

Waugh and his men will now have to win their last two encounters against Bangladesh and West Indies. The clash against the West Indies may be the match of the tournament with the rivals starting from where they left off in the closely fought series in the Caribbean. Both teams will have to win this game to qualify for the next stage 8212;- just the kind of tonic needed for both sides who have looked listless so far.

In Group A, India will have to recover from the first disconcerting punch delivered by minnows Zimbabwe. Without taking anything away from the Zimbabweans, it was poorcricket by the Indians which cost them two valuable points. All India had to do was to respond to the situation sensibly and quickly in order to thwart the opposition, who had to choke considering they had had a pretty flat day before the final over. This needless defeat has put India in a spot and could deal a telling blow to its chances.

The South Africans in the same group have looked steady in their campaign and have been clinical in their methods and techniques to overhaul important teams like Sri Lanka and England. The hosts threw away a truly golden opportunity when they had the potential champions gasping for survival at The Oval. The whipping blow was, however, delivered by the South Africans, who bowled out the British lions for a paltry 103.