Guide to this week's matches (23 May 1999)

23 May 1999

Guide to this week's matches

Scyld Berry

India, buoyed by the return of Sachin Tendulkar yesterday after attending his father's funeral in India, are likely to be too strong, even if they have to bat first on a pitch with early life. But that is what we thought before they played Zimbabwe and, dispirited and indisciplined in their seam bowling and batting, lost by three runs. Kenya presumably will not play Jimmy Kamande, 20, who was reported for throwing against Zimbabwe.

Stat: Mohammad Azharuddin needs 20 runs to become the first to reach 9,000 in one-day internationals.

Australia, who will without the injured Shane Lee, have to find some spark but it could be elusive again against the best bowling side in the competition. They could also do with a specialist opening batsman, like Greg Blewett, or else open with Tom Moody. Pakistan's one main weakness, like South Africa's, is their top three - not compact enough for very English conditions. But, like South Africa, they are resilient enough to have got by so far.

Stat: Showing what a well-matched contest this is, Pakistan have won 20, Australia 25, of their encounters.

TOMORROW

New Zealand, like South Africa, have had the ideal build-up of a month's break after a hard season, and are as keen as the ageing West Indians are tired and zestless. Indeed, if they lose this one, West Indies might not qualify at all so Lara-dependent are they for runs. The Kiwis have also found a fine strike bowler in Geoff Allott, now that he swings it; their main weakness (and they are not alone) is their lack of top-order technique apart from Roger Twose.

Stat: New Zealand have won only four one-day games and lost 18 against West Indies.

The game to decide the wooden-spooners of Group B. Bangladesh have the batsmen and spinners, Scotland have the seamers and all-rounders. Combine the two and . . . The toss, bringing the advantage of bowling first so far north, is all too liable to be decisive.

Stat: A world one-day record Scotland will not be trying to break is the 59 extras conceded against Pakistan.

Conditions will be crucial. If the pitch is dry, firm and true, as specified, it will help Zimbabwe's fragile batting and their numerous spinners: playing a second leg-spinner, Adam Huckle, who gets more bounce than Paul Strang, could even prove an embarrassing ace. If the ball swings and seams, England should easily prevail.

Stat: Zimbabwe lead England 5-1 in one-dayers, all abroad.

Boos and brickbats will await the losers of this game when they return home after failing to qualify for the Super Sixes. The winners may just have a chance of wriggling through. Expect a high-scoring as well as highly-strung contest.

Imagine a secluded corner of Regent's Park, and a square-shaped ground surrounded by dikes, but if you are going to this suburb of Amsterdam, do not expect Dutch taxi-drivers to know it as local interest in cricket is only just trickling down from the Anglophile elite. Whereas England A have lost here (before the turf pitch was laid), Hansie Cronje's men surely will not on their return to his ancestral homeland. It should prove a small, high-scoring ground when the South Africans bat, not when they relentlessly bowl.

Stat: The first official one-day international in Holland and only the second time these two countries have met.

Again Scotland's seamers may embarrass stronger foes with their bit of county experience, and again their batsmen will no doubt embarrass themselves against speed they have not experienced. Ageing giants as the West Indies are, and far less motivated away from their own crowds, they should at least do the business here.

Stat: Scotland's unbeaten record against West Indies should not last beyond their first encounter, even if Brian Lara stays up to watch Dwight Yorke in the European Cup final.

To judge by the previous game here, when the ball swung and bounced unevenly, the venue is utterly unsuited to Bangladesh's free-spirited batsmen and spinners. It will therefore have to be an overwhelming victory for Australia, with their top-order scoring heaps of runs, for them to derive much confidence and momentum: and if they have lost meanwhile to Pakistan, they will need that run-rate to qualify.

Stat: The sides have played once before, in Sharjah in 1990, when Australia won.

Even if both countries have qualified by now, it will still be an important game for the two points the winners will take into the Super Sixes. The top orders of both sides are likely to struggle again, turning it into a contest between the lower orders batting their way out of trouble. Pakistan should win; if it is New Zealand (20-1 at the start of the tournament), they will become strong cup contenders.

Stat: Wasim Akram could overtake Imran Khan's record of 34 World Cup wickets, as he has 31 plus his haul from the previous game against Australia.

A dead match for India if they lose to Sri Lanka in midweek, but still a big game for England as it is desirable that they should top Group A (if only on run-rate ahead of South Africa). They will then play their Super Six matches at Trent Bridge, Headingley and Edgbaston, venues suited to their seamers, rather than The Oval, Old Trafford and Trent Bridge, as they will if they finish second. Indian batting techniques were utterly exposed by English seam in the Edgbaston Test of 1996, except for Tendulkar's.

Stat: England lead India 8-4 in one-dayers in England.

Both countries may have comfortably qualified before this match. Cup favourites South Africa should find the Chelmsford wicket tailor-made for their formidable top-order batsmen and, with their front-line bowlers hitting the mark, it is hard to see Zimbabwe springing an upset in this match.

Stat: South Africa have played Zimbabwe seven times for six wins, with no result in the other game.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)