National 5 (Spotlight Weekly)

Showcase of Skills

World Cup Cricket 2003 kicks off in South Africa, promising one and a half months of fascination

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

The very first game of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup Cricket 2003 gave the perfect trailer of what will follow in the coming one and a half month of battles between bats and balls.

The nail-biting finish when the host and tournament favorites South Africa lost by mere three runs to un-fancied West Indies in February 9 in Cape Town showed why this game is called an uncertain one. The Caribbean team powered by run-hungry batsman Brian Lara warned the world not to take them lightly.

There are 14 teams contesting in the tournament. These teams have been divided into two groups. The group A includes Australia, England, Pakistan, India, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Holland. The group B includes South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, New Zealand, Kenya, Bangladesh and Canada.

Three teams from each group will qualify to the second round known as Super Six. Four teams will qualify to the knock-out stage with the final taking place in March 23 in Johannesburg.

Three African countries including South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya are co-hosting the tournament that is touted as being the most extravagant in the history of ICC. But for many reasons, this World Cup has also become one of the most controversial ones.

England gave conflicting signals on whether it would play in Zimbabwe or not. Citing the human rights abuses in the regime of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, the British government has already advised its cricketers not to visit the country.

But with high stakes involved, the English Cricket Board (ECB) had refrained from making any decision to that effect although the tournament had already began till early this week. New Zealand, on the other hand, has decided against traveling to Kenya amid fears of security arrangements. As the Kiwis lost their first match against Sri Lanka in Bloemfontein in February 10, they now face an uphill task to qualify for the Super Six round.

The Indian team, too, had their shares of controversies. The conflict with the ICC regarding the playersí contract, which dogged the team for the last couple of months, has been put on hold for now.

Anyway, the tournament has began and all cricket-lovers, of which there is no dearth in the Indian subcontinent, will now be glued to their television screens ogling at the marvelous display with bat and balls.

Nepalese cricket-lovers, too, will not miss the opportunity to rejoice in this sports celebration. "Though our team is not taking part, we can learn a lot by watching bigger teams play in the tournament," Bardan Chalise, vice captain of the Under 19 cricket team, was quoted in Nepal Samacharpatra daily.

The officials of the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) also believe that the tournament will teach Nepalese youngsters on ways to handle the high-pressure games. The CAN has the target of sending Nepalese squad to World Cup cricket in 2007. In 2001, it had lost to Namibia in the qualifying round for 2003 World Cup. Namibia went on to qualify for the current World Cup.

However, the Nepalese squad made a promising show in the early 2002 when it uprooted teams like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Namibia and Scotland in the Under 19 World Cup cricket held in New Zealand.

Later this year, Nepalese team will be traveling to USA for the first round of qualifying matches for the 2007 ICC world cup. If successful in USA, it will have to travel to Ireland next year before being qualified.

Cricket is the only team-game in which Nepal has shown promises of making it big. It is the only team-game in which Nepalese side has already played in World Cup level (in the Under 19 World Cup last year). Hopefully, Nepalese cricketers will hone their skills in the days to come.