Dav Whatmore is more than happy with 2003 World Cup preparations

The news from South Africa is undoubtedly good. We are delighted with our 2003 World Cup draw, which has given us an excellent chance of progressing through to the Super Six stages.

We are, of course, taking nothing for granted, as hosts South Africa especially, and West Indies and New Zealand as well, are challenging competitors. Nevertheless, we will go into those games with a lot of confidence.

The favorable draw is just reward for the team, which has performed so well since June 1999. The 2003 World Cup seeding was based on each team's ODI results since the last tournament and, statistically speaking, we were the third best side in the world, with a 63% win ratio after 60 matches.

Remember too that the World Cup formula has now changed. The early pool matches are of greater importance than in earlier tournaments. Nowadays, qualification for the final knockout stages is a grueling process with the Super Sixes. Moreover, with points gained against fellow qualifiers in first round being carried forward to the second stage, nearly every game now counts.

As the news filtered through yesterday, we were busily training, with one eye on that tournament. During the last week the batsmen have been training hard under the watchful eye of South Africa's own Barry Richards, the latest addition to our support staff.

Barry has joined us for a two-week programme, which is the start of an ongoing relationship with Sri Lankan cricket. He will be making a series of visits before the 2003 World Cup and will also be able to provide valuable inputs when he visits Sri Lanka as a television commentator.

On this occasion Barry's input has focused in on two areas: the batsmen's techniques, especially against top quality fast bowling, and the development of mental skills, particularly the concept of all the players being "thinking cricketers."

These are not new areas for us, but Barry's expertise provides a different perspective and an alternate means of expression, which the cricketers can find useful.

Simply speaking, we want to provide the batsmen to consider the technically options available to them against hostile fast bowling in lively conditions, so that they can improve their performances.

Each batsmen has different options, but one come denominator this week has been the need for batsmen to play close to their body and within an imaginary rectangular box. If one plays outside that box then they are not in line and that will dramatically increase the chances of edging the ball.

It is difficult to isolate the technical side of the game from mental side and during the week there have also been a number of technical sessions, in which we have discussed the importance of being a "thinking cricketer." Players must be able to read the game, to understand what is happening and project into the future, so they can plan their innings. For example, when they come to wicket and have played themselves in, they need to identify when best to exert themselves on the opposition. Experience is a tremendous help, but the players can also learn from each other, and in this case from Barry himself.

This two-weeks is just part of a longer process. We have now assembled a strong support team to take us to the World Cup and beyond. That, married to the obvious talent and potential in team, is why we are confidently looking forward to 2003.