The South Africans derive their invincibility-factor from the amazing all-round strength they possess. They bat right till number ten while their enormously-talented batsman, Jacques Kallis, has the potential to be their bowling hero in the World Cup, with his hit-the-seam kind of bowling, so ideal in the English conditions.Kallis apart, they have speedsters Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusener, who can bail the team out of crisis, if any, with their batting. Klusener in fact, has a century to his credit in limited-overs cricket, and his batting average (39.60) would do any batsman proud.The South African trio leads the tribe of all rounders - Jack of all Trades, some say - who are expected to strike it rich this World Cup. The people most sought after are Kallis, Pollock, Saurav Ganguly, Chris Cairns, Sanath Jayasuriya.. The message is simple; specialists are out, utility men are in!Not only the betting shops around the world, but also the participating teams are looking forward to the all roundersto do the trick for them. Now one thing is for sure, most of these all rounders are not the usual bits-and-pieces players, the also-can bat kinds who can chip in with a few overs. Players like Kallis, Ganguly, Jayasuriya and Mark Waugh can walk into any team on their batting prowess alone, but give them a bowl and they can be more than a handful with their niggling line and length. Vice-versa for the bowling-allrounders like Pollock, Klusener, Cairns.An intelligent cricketer, pundits say, is one who makes optimum use of his calibre. Shahid Afridi, for example, may not be able to cause earthshakes with his explosive batting in English conditions, but his fastish leg breaks cannot be ignored in the English conditions. He can make any batsman dance to his tunes if he uses his brain. Afridi, anyway, has the capability to score a brisk 20-25, and often more, with the bat. His skipper Wasim Akram, himself an all rounder of repute, would be a happy man then.The Indians have not forgotten how the team rode onallrounders to script a Midsummer Night's Dream on June 25, '83. Similarly, Ganguly is the man they are banking on this time, with his ideal seam bowling, glimpses of which he showed against Pakistan in the '97 Sahara Cup in Toronto, where the conditions were similar to the ones they will confront now. There is Robin Singh, who can seam the ball well besides having the capability of giving an impetus to the scoring rate at the death. And, how can you ignore Sachin Tendulkar, with his now-off spin, now-leg spin and now-seam bowling? Australia do not have the same quality all rounders they had till about four-five years back, when even their current skipper Steve Waugh was bowling. Still, players like Mark Waugh and Shane Lee can fit in the bill perfectly. However, the most dangerous man under the circumstances would be veteran Tom Moody, whose knows how to exploit the seaming English wickets, with years of county cricket experience behind him.Like Afridi, Jayasuriya would be doubly-dangerous with hisquickish left arm spin and explosive batting at the top of the order. Also, watch out for the naturally-gifted Chris Cairns, who hasn't really done justice to his talent. Who knows, this World Cup could be the ideal stage for him, as indeed for the other Jacks of all trades.
