Tony McWatt

By Adit Kumar
With tremendous excitement building up as the tenth World Cup Cricket gets underway on February 19, 2011 Indo Caribbean World looks back at the history of One Day Cricket.
The first One Day International was played at Melbourne on January 5 1971 as a means to stymie the severe financial losses which plagued the 1970/71series between England and Australia. Today this new form of the game, which was introduced as a stop gap mechanism, generates world wide appeal and excitement and

is even a challenge to the traditional five-day Test matches. This shortened version of the game has given birth to an even shorter version, the Twenty20, which was pioneered by the now disgraced Allen Stanford who gave it the push it needed in the West Indies in the early 2000’s.
The Limited Over version of cricket was first introduced in 1963 in England with the Gillette Cup. The once popular three-day County matches, which had traditionally enjoyed popular support in England, was suffering from declining crowd attendance in the early 1960’s and the cricketing authorities came up with a shortened version of the game in an effort to bring back the crowds.
The Gillette Cup became an instant success and was soon followed by other similar competitions like the John Player League in 1969 and the Benson & Hedges Cup three years later. However, despite its popularity at the County level, it was not considered suitable for the International scene as the five-day Test matches continued to attract good attendance and interest.
When the first two tests of the 1970/71 series between England and Australia ended in draws and the third was abandoned due to rain, the Australian and English Cricket Boards decided to give the public something to watch. They agreed to play a match 'on Gillette Cup lines' on the scheduled last day of the Melbourne Test. The reluctance of the establishment to endorse the game as an official game led to them naming the sides as an England XI and Australian XI. Tobacco giant Rothmans chipped in at the last minute as a sponsor pouring in 5000 pounds with the man of the match slated to earn the princely sum of 90 pounds.
Despite taking place on a Tuesday and seemingly a low key affair, a massive crowd of over 46,000 fans showed up for the match much to the surprise of the organizers. It was reported that they were expecting a crowd of not more than 20,000. The game was a 40-over match played under the Australian 8-ball per over style. England batting first was dismissed for 190 in 39.4 overs, with John Edrich scoring 82. Australia wiped off the runs with 42 balls to spare, with Ian Chappell top scoring with 60.

The players did not show the enthusiasm for this inaugural game as we have grown accustomed to today. This was evident from their comments about the game. The then England captain Ray Illingworth in an interview about the match in 1994, said, "We’d spent so long in the dressing room that we were just grateful for a game." And Ashley Mallett, the Australian off spinner, recalled years later that he was surprised when the match was called the first one-day international, saying "That game we thought was a bit of a joke." On the other hand, Don Bradman reportedly addressed the crowd at the end of the game and told them, "Today you have seen history made."
While the players may not have been enthused by the first game the organizers took note of the attendance and prophesized that future tours would include the one-dayers. The England manager David Clark said he could see a week being set aside for a short one-day series when Australia visited England in 1972. He was proven correct as when Australia toured England in a return fixture in 1972 three one-day matches were scheduled in the test tour with the sixth test being replaced by the one day games. They were sponsored by Prudential Insurance Company and played as 55-over games.
The huge spectator response and the sizeable gate receipts confirmed the popularity of the one-day game and similar contests were held when New Zealand and West Indies toured England in 1973 and when India and Pakistan toured the following year.
The one day games became a fixture and its popularity led to England hosting the Inaugural World Cup of Cricket in 1975. Those games were played as 60-over games. The West Indies with their line-up of fast scoring batsmen and a four-pronged pace attack proved too much for their opponents and emerged clear winners in 1975. When the second tournament was held in 1979 they again emerged clear winners but were dethroned in an upset victory in 1983 which saw India capturing the trophy in a biting final with the West Indies. The first three tournaments were played in England on the 60-over per side basis, but thereafter the venues were rotated to other test playing nations and the games were reduced to 50 overs per side as continued up to now.
The other winners in the tournament were Australia in 1987, played in India/Pakistan; Pakistan in 1992, played in Australia/New Zealand; Sri Lanka in 1996, played in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Australia won the next three, in 1999 played in England, 2003 played in South Africa and 2007, played in the West Indies.
While India and South Africa may be seen as favourites in this year’s World Cup tournament any of the top teams could come out victorious as cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties.
One day cricket got a further boost when Australian media mogul, Kerry Packer staged his World Series Cricket Tournament from 1977-1979. When the Australian Cricket Board refused his $1.5M offer to buy television rights to Test cricket in 1976 and sold it instead for $210,000 to the ABC television he went ahead and signed up all the big players at the time and launched his unofficial cricket series which posed a serious challenge to the official game.
The authorities saw TV as a distraction which would keep the crowds at home instead of at the grounds. They failed to see the long term gains in sponsorship as we know it today. Kerry Packer introduced a new life into the game with colored clothing, day/night games and much more which are standard practice today. He paid the cricketers a handsome compensation for their talent. Limited over owes a tremendous gratitude to Kerry Packer for popularizing this form of the sport.
Players who signed up with Kerry Packer were banned from official test cricket but after the official game suffered from lack of talent and interest, a truce was struck which brought back the ‘rebel’ players into the official circle of cricket at much higher compensation for them. Thanks to him cricketers were able to earn a more decent income for their talent. His rebel series forced the cricketing authorities to improve cricketers’ remuneration and at the same time give greater exposure to the game on TV.
Kerry Packer died in 2005 but by that time the game had already taken on a new dimension as we know it today.

 

Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi said Thursday he hoped to meet India in the World Cup final, saying the match would boost international cricket and draw billions of viewers.
“There is a possibility that Pakistan and India play the final of the World Cup and if that happens it would be ideal for the World Cup, one-day format and for the game of cricket,” Afridi said.
The arch-rivals are in separate groups at the 14-team World Cup, hosted by Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka starting on February 19.
The top four teams from each group meet in the quarter-final and Afridi said he hoped India and Pakistan would avoid each other until the April 2 final.
“Both India and Pakistan have to play above their potential to reach the final but it would be ideal for billions of people around the world,” said Afridi, who will be playing his fourth World Cup.
Pakistan have yet to beat India in four World Cup clashes.
India beat Pakistan by 39 runs in a highly charged quarter-final at Bangalore in the 1996 Cup.
The two have not played each other outside tournaments since gunmen went on the rampage in Mumbai in 2008, killing 166 people and severing peace talks after New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistani-based militants.
The pair met in the Champions Trophy in South Africa in 2009, however, where Pakistan beat India – the last international match between them.
Afridi said beating their arch-rivals in the Mumbai final would be the “icing on the cake.”
“We would love to beat India in India and in a World Cup match because we have never done this before and this could be a great motivation,” said Afridi.
Playing down any possible security threat during the World Cup, Afridi said: “People of both the nations love cricket and I don’t see any threat.

 

Ramnaresh Sarwan struck a masterful 123 to set up a comfortable 61-run victory for West Indies in a World Cup warm-up match against Kenya on Saturday. Hosts Sri Lanka proved far too strong for minnows Netherlands in the other match of the day.
Sarwan, 30, hit 11 fours and five sixes in his 125-ball knock and put on 94 runs with Dwayne Bravo (54) for the fifth wicket to propel his side to 253-8 after they were put in to bat at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Kenya started their chase confidently with Collins Obuya making 68 and Seren Waters 43, but they lost quick wickets in the middle overs and were bowled out for 192 off 45.3 overs.
Young West Indies paceman Andre Russell, who is yet to make his one-day debut, picked up four wickets for 43 runs off his 10 overs while Kemar Roach took 3-23.
Sarwan, recalled to the World Cup squad after being dropped in May last year, showed his worth once again in sub-continent conditions. He has an excellent one-day record in India, where West Indies play five of their six World Cup group games.
In the other match on Saturday, hosts Sri Lanka proved far too strong for minnows Netherlands, posting a crushing 156-run victory in a morale-boosting World Cup warm-up match.
Sri Lanka, runners-up at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, scored 351-5 off their allotted 50 overs even without prolific run-getters Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, who did not bat.
The Netherlands, who have not beaten an ICC full member country in their previous three World Cup appearances, were bowled out for 195 in the 48th over at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground in Colombo.
The highlight of their innings was a fighting 76 by Tom de Grooth, who cracked one six and 10 fours in his 96-ball knock. He added 80 for the fifth wicket with Bas Zuiderent (38) and 62 for the seventh with Atse Buurman (25).
Fast bowler Dilhara Fernando finished with 4-43 for Sri Lanka, while seamer Thisara Perera and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath bagged two wickets apiece.
Tillakaratne Dilshan (78), Thilan Samaraweera (60), Chamara Silva (54) and Chamara Kapugedera (50 not out) earlier made the most of a mediocre Dutch attack, each scoring a half-century after the hosts elected to bat.

 

Piyush Chawla spun India to a remarkable 38-run win over defending champions Australia in a high-profile World Cup warm-up match on Sunday. The leg-spinner took 4-31 as Australia collapsed to 176 chasing a modest 215-run target, after being strongly placed at 118-1 in the day-night match before a sizeable crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
“It will be difficult to chase anything over 230 on such kinds of tracks. I would be pleased if the wicket turns slightly less in future matches,” said India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
“It’s not about winning these warm-up games, as the real task starts when we get into the tournament,” Dhoni said. Chawla, 22, also upstaged Australian paceman Brett Lee, who earlier gave a superb exhibition of fast bowling to rock India and finish with 3-35 off 10 impressive overs.
Australia skipper Ricky Ponting top-scored with a solid 57 off 85 balls with four boundaries. “It was hard to bat on right through the day. It spun a lot in the second innings. Hopefully, as the tournament goes on, we will get better wickets than this one. This one looked a bit underprepared,” said Ponting.
Chawla started the slide with Michael Clarke’s dismissal for a duck as the tourists lost their last nine wickets for 58 runs, with spinners doing the maximum damage.

Morne Morkel grabbed three wickets and Jacques Kallis hit an unbeaten 49 as South Africa raced to an emphatic eight-wicket win over Zimbabwe in a World Cup warm-up match on Saturday. The paceman took 3-16 and Pakistan-born leg-spinner Imran Tahir bagged 3-35 as Zimbabwe were dismissed for 152 after electing to bat in the day-night match in Chennai.
South Africa achieved the target with more than 26 overs to spare in the one-sided contest, with Hashim Amla (45), skipper Graeme Smith (41) and Kallis being the main run-scorers.
Kallis smashed three sixes and as many fours in his 39-ball knock. Amla hit seven fours, while Smith hit one six and three fours in his 54-ball knock.
Opener Brendan Taylor top-scored with 40 in a disappointing Zimbabwean batting performance. Sean Williams (35) and Charles Coventry (21) were the other main run-getters.
South Africa are in Group B with India, England, the West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and the Netherlands, while Group A comprises Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya.

 

Three, two, one. That was the week past (February 6-13) for this West Indian cricket fan. Three reasons to be happy, two to embarrassed and one to be very sad.
In terms of happiness derived, the biggest source was the very welcome news of Fidel Edwards’ return to active duty in the 2nd Round matches of the current West Indies Regional 4-Day Competition. Edwards suited up for his native Barbados for their match against the England Lions. At the time of writing, he had taken 1-72 from twenty-overs, at a very decent average of 3.20. Given that this is his first competitive match after being out of active duty since the summer of 2009, the fact that his twenty overs also contained ten no-balls shouldn’t be of too much concern to anyone.
The hope of Edwards’ return is of course that he can quickly get back to form and fitness sufficient enough to merit a place on the West Indies team. If so, along with Kemar Roach and Jerome Taylor together these three would provide the West Indies with a pace attack of some mean potency. When firing at their best Roach, Edwards and Taylor are all easily capable of reaching delivery speeds of 90 mph, long considered to be the standard against which only the very, very quick are measured.
With these three at the helm, Dwayne Bravo fulfilling the work-horse role while Sulieman Benn and Chris Gayle providing the spin, the West Indies would finally have a bowling attack capable of capturing the twenty opposition wickets needed to win Test Matches. Watch out Pakistan and India, the West Indies respective Home Series against these two will be the litmus Test for that theory, come this summer.
On the batting front, the current Caribbean Regional Competition has also witnessed a return to duty by Marlon Samuels. After a two year suspension for an involvement in illegal gambling, the very talented Jamaican middle-order batsman has returned to Regional duty with very impressive performances. Having had a string of useful scores at the recently completed Caribbean T20 Competition, he scored a massive 250 in the second innings of Jamaica’s first match of the Regional 4-Day.
That innings against Guyana at home was followed by a stylish 40 against the Windwards at St George’s Grenada during the 2nd Round, an innings which seemed destined for much great things before it was unfortunately cut short as the result of a run-out. Samuels' return to duty and form comes at a time when Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the West Indies longstanding number 5, seems to be nearing the end of his career.
Now aged 36, Chanderpaul has struggled for runs of late. His appearances at this year’s World Cup could therefore very well prove to be the swan song of a long and outstanding career. If things do turn out that way, Samuels now 30 with the experience of 29 Tests under his belt, would arguably be the most fitting replacement.
If on the other hand Chanderpaul can regain form sufficient to maintain his place in the West Indies batting order, then Samuels will find himself in stiff and very healthy competition for the remaining batting spot on the team. With the likes of the incumbent Brandon Nash and the emerging youngsters Kraigg Braithwite and Kirk Edwards also in contention, that situation would only bode well for the immediate future of West Indies cricket.
As bright as the prospects suddenly appear to be for the West Indies, they have been made even more so by the very welcome return of Ramnaresh Sarwan, both to the team and outstanding form. Omitted from the recently completed Tour to Sri Lanka as a result of his failure to meet appropriate fitness standards, Sarwan has returned with an apparently renewed commitment, punctuated as it has been by a string impressive scores to silence his critics. The most recent of these was a last man out 123 in the West Indies’ first Official World Cup Warm-Up Match against Kenya.
Sarwan’s experience and obvious talent will boost the West Indies chances of performing well during the forthcoming World Cup. An objective they will be eager to achieve, following the embarrassment provided by their recent one position demotion to number nine in the official International Cricket Council (ICC) One Day International rankings, a ranking which places them below all of the other Test playing countries, even Bangladesh.
To have fallen from being repeat champions during the first two World Cups, in 1975 and 1979, and beaten finalists in the third in 1983, for the West Indies to be now ranked as the lowest of all Test playing countries is a major embarrassment indeed. The team’s primary objective during the forthcoming World Cup should therefore be to correct that injustice, by at the very least, emerging from the Preliminary Rounds as one of the top eight teams to qualify for the quarter-finals.
One of the necessities for the West Indies to do so will be a much improved performance record from their captain Darren Sammy. Appointed by the West Indies Cricket Board, as a seemingly ill considered knee-jerk reaction to yet another player crisis, Sammy has since failed to justify his position in the team either as a bowler or lower-order batting all-rounder. His failure to do so has already made his Captaincy appointment a minor embarrassment, as meriting a place on the team is arguably the most fundamental requirements of the job.
As a consequence of the Board’s obvious bungling of this matter, the West Indies could very well find themselves having to field a team that’s always one player short of their best eleven. The fact that his appointment is valid until the conclusion of the forthcoming summer Home Series against India could quickly turn what’s now only a minor embarrassment to something major.
Having covered the aforementioned three causes for happiness and two sources of embarrassment provided during the week that was, I must now turn to the one source of sadness. That was the mid-week news of the unfortunate demise of the former England all-rounder Trevor Bailey. He died of smoke inhalation suffered as a result of a fire at his home in England.
Aged 83, Bailey will long be remembered as one of the stalwarts of the Len Hutton led English teams of the mid-fifties. My personal connection to him was that he was the famous victim as Gary Sobers' very first Test wicket, caught behind by one Clifford McWatt, who just so happened to be my father. I will also remember him as one of the best cricket commentators I have ever heard on radio.
Happiness, embarrassment and sadness all in one week. With start of the World Cup now only days away, who knows what the next few weeks will bring for this West Indian cricket fan. Hopefully lots and lots of the first and very, very little of the others!

 

Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh captain, has said it is not difficult for his team to qualify for the World Cup quarter-finals and they could even go further. "We have been playing good cricket for the last 15 months, and if we qualify for the second round, why not think of something big," Shakib said. "We have to win at least four matches to win a place in the second round. It is not difficult. I think we are capable of booking a place in the second round."
Bangladesh will go in to the World Cup ranked among the top eight teams in ODIs, and have the advantage of playing all their group games at home. Their No. 8 ICC ranking is justification of their recent form; they won two home series in 2010, beating Zimbabwe 3-1 and New Zealand 4-0, and pushed England close in an away series, losing 2-1.
While Bangladesh have been giant-killers in past World Cups, beating India and South Africa in 2007, and Pakistan in 1999, their most experienced player, Mohammad Ashraful, says this time the side is firmly aiming at reaching the quarter-finals rather than looking for a few upsets.
"Things are now very different to what it was in 2007," Ashraful, who will take part in his third World Cup in the 2011 tournament, said. "In that World Cup, we were hoping for an upset or two, but this time around we are firmly aiming for the quarter-finals. There is a significant change in the mentality."
Shakib, though, said there has not been any drastic change in the way his side sees themselves. "I don't feel that there is anything special in terms of attitude," he said. "Ever since I started playing cricket, I have been playing to win, and I play with the same mentality now, whoever the opposition."
Three victories may be enough for Bangladesh to go past the group stage, since four out of seven teams qualify from each group. Two of their matches will be against Associate teams Ireland and Netherlands, in which they will be favourites. They will also be eyeing fixtures against West Indies, who have slipped below them in the ODI rankings, at Mirpur, and England in Chittagong, while upsets against India and South Africa are not off the cards.
Bangladesh have done enough to have lost the underdog tag, but with that, and the fact that they are joint hosts for the tournament, comes added pressure. Shahriar Nafees, who will be playing his second World Cup, said the team was confident of dealing with it. "People handle pressure in different ways; some thrive under it, some play their best when they don't have it," he said. "But there is a stern belief within this side because we are finally winning. We know that at home we are considerably tough opposition."
While Bangladesh's surprise success in the 2006-07 World Cup gave cricket a boost in the country, it was not until the last two years that the results improved. In the period between the last World Cup and the end of 2008, they won just five out of 34 ODIs. Since the start of 2009, though, they have maintained a win/loss ratio of 1.00 in 46 matches.
Ashraful points to a victory over Sri Lanka in January 2009, in a tri-nation tournament, as the turning point in Bangladesh's fortunes. After fast bowlers Mashrafe Mortaza and Rubel Hossain had skittled out Sri Lanka for 147, Ashraful and Shakib had put together a century partnership to help Bangladesh recover from 11 for 3, the latter making an unbeaten 92.
"During that game, I had a feeling things were changing," says Ashraful. "Previously we were happy just competing with the big teams, but that day there was a feeling prevalent that we will be able to beat the big teams if we played to our true potential." Ashraful's own form has been on a downward spiral since that series and, after averaging just 14.66 in the first half of 2010, he found himself dropped for the series against New Zealand and given just one match in the one against Zimbabwe. He was quick to acknowledge the recent success of the team has been built on their younger players, saying "there are other match-winners coming through."
Nafees is another player who, like Ashraful, has struggled to live up to his early promise, and, after signing with the ICL kept him out of international cricket for a year, has only played four ODIs in the last two years. He said the development of Bangladesh cricket is an on-going process and previous captains have added to it as well. "It is like a relay race," Nafees said. "[Habibul] Bashar and his team had bought the team to a certain level and Shakib is now carrying it on. We are moving forward, that is unquestionable."
Bangladesh will kick off the World Cup with a home fixture against India on February 19.

 

Ahead of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, here are some of the best (or worst) sledging exchanges down the years:
Rod Marsh and Ian Botham:
When Botham took guard in an Ashes match, Marsh welcomed him with: “So how’s your wife and my kids?” to which Botham shot back: “The wife’s fine, but the kids are retarded.”
South Africa batsman Daryll Cullinan and Aussie spin wizard Shane Warne: As Cullinan was on his way to the wicket, Warne told him he had been waiting two years for another chance to humiliate him. “Looks like you spent it eating,” Cullinan retorted.
Robin Smith of England and Australian fast bowler Merv Hughes: Hughes said to Smith after he played and missed: “You can’t ******* bat”. Smith to Hughes after he smacked him to the boundary: “Hey Merv, we make a fine pair. I can’t ******* bat and you can’t ******* bowl.”
Hughes and Pakistan’s Javed Miandad: Javed called Hughes a fat bus conductor. A few balls later Hughes dismissed the Pakistan star: “Tickets please”, said Hughes as he ran past the departing batsman.
Sunil Gavaskar of India and West Indies’ Viv Richards:
Gavaskar, normally an opener, had decided to bat at number four, but Malcolm Marshall dismissed Anshuman Gaekwad and Dilip Vengsarkar for ducks, setting the stage for Gavaskar to walk in at 0-2. Richards said: “Man, it don’t matter where you come in to bat, the score is still zero.”
Richards and England fast bowler Greg Thomas:
Thomas: (describing the ball) “It’s red, round and weighs about five ounces, in case you were wondering.” Richards: (Having smacked said ball out of the ground) “You know what it looks like, now you go and find it.”