œND‰‰†K 18 SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA New Delhi, January 5, 2003 SPORT GROUP A GROUP B AUSTRALIA ENGLAND INDIA NAMIBIA NETHERLANDS PAKISTAN ZIMBABWE WEST INDIES SRI LANKA SOUTH AFRICA NEW ZEALAND KENYA CANADA BANGLADESH Ricky Ponting (C) Nasser Hussain (C) Saurav Ganguly (C) Deon Kotze (C) R. Lefebvre (C) Waqar Younis (C) Heath Streak (C) Carl Hooper (C) SRI LANKA Shaun Pollock (C) Stephen Fleming (C) Steve Tikolo (C) Joseph Harris (C) Khaled Mashud (C) A Gilchrist J Anderson V Sehwag J Berry Burger L van Troost Saeed Anwar Andy Blignaut Ridley Jacobs Sanath J’suriya (C) Mark Boucher Andre Adams Thomas Odoyo Ashish Bagai Hannan Al-Sahariar M Bevan Ian Blackwell S Tendulkar Louis Burger R Scholte Saleem Elahi Dion Ebrahim Shivnarine Chanderpaul Marvan Atapattu Nicky Boje Nathan Astle Joseph Angara Ian Billcliff M’mad Ashraful Andy Bichel A Caddick Rahul Dravid Sarel Burger Tim de Leede Shahid Afridi Sean Ervine Pedro Collins Mahela J’wardene Boeta Dippenaar Shane Bond Asif Karim Desmond Chumney Habibul Bashar J Gillespie P Collingwood Yuvraj Singh Morne Karg F Kloppenburg Taufeeq Umar Andy Flower Corey Collymore Kumar Sangakkara Allan Donald Chris Cairns Hitesh Modi Austin Codrington Sanwar Hossain M Hayden Andy Flintoff Mohd Kaif Danie Keulder Nick Statham I-ul-Haq Grant Flower Mervyn Dillon Aravinda de Silva Herschelle Gibbs Chris Harris Collins Obuya John Davison Alok Kapali Brad Hogg Ashley Giles Dinesh Mongia Bjorn Kotze Daan van Bunge Yousuf Youhana Travis Friend Vasbert Drakes Russel Arnold Andrew Hall Craig McMillan David Obuya Nicholas Degroot Tapash Baisya Brett Lee Steve Harmison Sanjay Bangar Lennie Louw Victor Grandia Younis Khan Douglas Hondo Chris Gayle Jehan Mubarak Jacques Kallis Brendon McCullum Kennedy Obuya Nicholas Ifill Mohammad Rafique Darren Lehmann Matthew Hoggard Parthiv Patel Gavin Murgatroyd Adeel Raja Wasim Akram Doug Marillier Wavell Hinds A. Gunawardene Gary Kirsten Kyle Mills Maurice Odumbe Davis Joseph Manjurul Islam Jimmy Maher Ronnie Irani Ajit Agarkar Gerrie Snyman Henk Jan Mol Rashid Latif Brian Murphy Brian Lara Hashan Tillakaratne Lance Klusener Jacob Oram Peter Ongondo Ishwar Maraj Talha Jubair Damien Martyn Nick Knight Harbhajan Singh Stefan Swanepoel Klaas van Noortwijk Saqlain Mushtaq Henry Olonga Jermaine Lawson M. Muralitharan Charl Langeveldt Mathew Sinclair Brijal Patel Ashish Patel Mashrafe Mortaza Glenn McGrath Alec Stewart Zaheer Khan Burton van Rooi Edgar Schiferli Shoaib Akhtar Tatenda Taibu Nixon McLean Chaminda Vaas Makhaya Ntini Scott Styris Ravindu Shah Abdool Samad Tushar Imran Andrew Symonds Marcus Trescothick Javagal Srinath Melt van Scoor Jacob Jan Esmeijer Abdul Razzaq Mark Vermeulen Ricardo Powell Dilhara Fernando Robin Peterson Daryl Tuffey Martin Suji Fazil Samad Ehsanul Hoque Shane Warne Michael Vaughan Anil Kumble Rudi van Vuuren Bas Zuiderent Mohammad Sami Guy Whittall Marlon Samuels Pulasthi Gunaratne Jonty Rhodes Lou Vincent Tony Suji Barry Seebaran Khaled Mahmud Shane Watson Craig White Ashish Nehra Riaan Walters Jeroen Smits Azhar Mahmood Craig Wishart R. Sarwan Prabath Nissanka Monde Zondeki Daniel Vettori Alpesh Vadher S’yan Thuraisingam Hannan Sarkar CHINKS & ARMOURS 14 teams will be in the fray. But only eight of them will really be vying for the World Cup. TNN sees if they (apart from India) have any major chinks By Dinesh Chopra dinner set and do the dishes once the guests leave. They’d love if BATTER LATE THAN NEVER AUSTRALIA: Hello, there’s a chink spotted in the they manage to ‘stay’ in the party Australian crick- till the very last. But for that By Bobilli Vijay Kumar The stage is finally set for the World Cup (despite the contracts’ bottleneck). The teams have been an- always come back in the middle they’ll have to TIMES NEWS NETWORK et team. What? nounced and it is up to each one of them to iron out their weaknesses and sharpen their strengths. overs when the game is meandering use both — the and the batsmen are aiming to con- Whaat? Whaaat? he Indian team will soon Whaaaat? Sorry, laptop and the Times News Network looks at the Indian combination and the main contenders. solidate. land in the jungles of South Ajit Ninan if you missed an necktop. At Pakistan, Australia, Sri Lanka odd heartbeat or times, Shaun Africa, bruised and bat- Heads or tails: Play, rewind, fast forward, and now even New Zealand know your wigged hair Pollock’s men Ttered like injured soldiers. pause do whatever with that tapes of ri- that Srinath can be ruffled: they val batsmen but please zero in on their are standing merrily on their ends seem a bit too All the good work through the year would surely pass on the message to weaknesses asap at this reference. But without a methodical, al- has clearly evaporated in New all those who haven’t been watch- most robotic. They tend to lose it gentleman called Stephen Rodger Zealand’s cold and windy condi- ing India closely. Waugh Aussies are like orphans. when cornered. With a fading tions; if Jagmohan Dalmiya had his Shoulder responsibility: Enjoy, this White Lightning their bowling can one’s a national trait. The PM, the The biggest setback to India’s God knows the details of Indo- way, he would find a deep-rooted plans, however, was the success of Australian export-import policies be a weak link. ICC conspiracy behind this to stop MPs, the MiB (correction: Men in Mind over matter: Half the Blue), you and me all believe Bangar in the home series. He but sarkar would lax any number his board from becoming a cricket slipped into the elusive all- of directives to clear Waugh’s ‘im- battle is usually won in the responsibilities only gatecrash SRI LANKA: Commentators have super power. rounder’s shoes that Ganguly and port’ to play for India. mind; India lose most of been privately But then, Dalmiya shouldn’t al- Wright were carrying around the ways be taken seriously. The indi- them even before entering The Green ‘n’ Gold men are on confessing how Looking for arm-strong: country.But since then he hasn’t re- cations of a looming disaster had the field a high alright and need Waugh’s they hate to do Naah...not about the moon, ally contributed enough. It is anchor in that slightly light mid- any Sri Lanka surfaced during West Indies’ tour to honey. Looking for some strange that the shoe-carriers dle-order. He defends the short match. It’s diffi- the country itself: India captivated well-rounded arms for those haven’t noticed that Bangar would ball well and doesn’t mind the cult to phonate the Test series comfortably but the zooming throws from the deep hardly ever bowl ten sparkling speed or spin. May be, there will those surnames One-dayers failed to sway or swoon be that last and final call for Mr. once and impos- overs or score too many quick-fire to their players’ ebullient charms. 30s or 40s either. Stephen Rodger Waugh. sible for 100 overs in a day, The batsmen proudly scored An eye for an eye: The key to success is aggression. The India should abandon their all- they’d say. If Sri Lankans can’t runs and India consistently crossed hold themselves from playing fan- Indian batsmen appear in no rounder designs immediately; they 300-run barriers even without the Not for jelly bellies: ENGLAND: With or without the cy strokes, they’d be back home mood to fight when the ball should revert to their seven bats- mighty willow of Sachin Ten- My Bio ma’m taught amber gold, sooner than later ensuring an is seaming or is coming in at men and four bowlers formula. dulkar. But Virender Sehwag about food pipe, wind even a die-hard easy time for the commentators. express speed Ganguly, Sachin, Sehwag and Yu- showed his first signs of fallibility pipe, liver, intestines Barmy Army Apart from Marvan Atapattu, Ar- vraj have to feel the ball a lot more etc. etc. Poor lady, she regular would avinda de Silva and a bit of Ma- against the electric pace and steep (it might, in fact, come in handy forgot how much do we struggle to hela Jayawardena, few can look bounce of Jermaine Lawson. The while they are batting). Bangar, if name all the need to have that fire in back into a fast bowlers’ eyes. bowlers, on the other hand, forgot at all, has only one use for the team: members of there too. Ditto for our Hashan Tillekeratne can block it how to smile when confronted with A nose for victory: Five as an opener against strong bowl- England’s World Pranayams in the morning, five in boys well. Sunny boy Jayasuriya is an Gayle, Sarwan and Samuels. ing attacks or in horrible batting Cup squad. Most of their CVs may the evening, one inhaler each. impulsive captain and can be The Kiwis were, of course, conditions. Unfortunately, the op- be heavy on promise but are light forced to make wrong moves. watching every ball and every shot May be then the Blue Brigade can on experience. Especially, the sniff victories portunities to test him in New very closely. Zealand were never utilised. bowling. It seems Andrew Cad- They didn’t have to work too hard dick’s never-ending legs will have The other worry is that the Kiwi WEST INDIES: For the West Indi- to imprison Sehwag in the crease or to gain an odd feet more to run ans, life is one tour has exposed the vulnerability make Ganguly squirm in the pavil- for his side. Possibility of Andy big beach with The handicraft: Got it wrong of the Indian batting. The team Flintoff bowling at the word go each wave ion.