The Show Must Go on Over the Next Month Cricket’S World Cup Marks Its Tendulkar in 2011
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151 editions of the world’s most famous sports book WisdenEXTRA No. 14, February 2015 World Cup Special The show must go on Over the next month cricket’s World Cup marks its Tendulkar in 2011. Plenty to cherish there, and to keep 40th anniversary in Australia and New Zealand, still us hopeful. unsure of where it fits into the game’s labyrinthine There is no reason why the World Cup can’t be a lot constellation. of fun. Some say the 50-over game is being squeezed World Cups are supposed to be the showpiece, yet out by the shorter and longer formats either side of it, cricket’s version does not even use the format of the but it is still loved round the world. It binds the eras, game which is still regarded as the pinnacle of the long enough to offer the ebb and flow that distinguishes sport, nor that which is its most accessible. Increasingly cricket but spiced with a ticking clock. it risks being lost among a tide of tournaments and And only the arch-cynic could deny that, however matches which dull the senses; these days you can make poorly it is treated, sport still has a mind of its own. As a reasonable guess that somewhere around the world a Patrick Eagar’s photographs show in this issue of Wisden one-day international is taking place (there were 450 of EXTRA, you never know quite what’s in store. We might them between this World Cup and the last one in 2011). get lucky. Even those who govern the game have seemed unsure What the World Cup really needs to get it up and what to make of it, forever tinkering with the number running is a good show from its supporting cast, of teams and stretching the quantity of matches so that the Associate nations who have too often flattered they appear like dots at the earth’s end. to deceive. For them, this tournament is the apex of Over the next few pages Matthew Engel, who was achievement. On page 10 Khurram Khan and Kabir ringside when the World Cup was born, reflects this Khan, two Pakistan-born cricketers who have been at opinion in his skilful but damning navigation through the centre of cricket in the United Arab Emirates and the last 40 years. As Matthew sees it, a good thing has Afghanistan, speak intimately and insightfully about the gone to waste. particular challenges – political and technical – faced by And yet if we cast the net back over the first ten their adopted nations. World Cups we scoop up – beneath a mountain of If you feel like Matthew does you can duck the World dead fish – some triumphant and indelible moments Cup by dipping into our extract from the new anthology in cricket history. West Indies launching a new era in Wisden on Grace, featuring the unlikely trio of Geoffrey 1975, India’s earth-shaking victory in 1983, Pakistan Moorhouse, Neville Cardus and Craig Spearman. We also reaching fever pitch in 1992, Sri Lanka landing among pay tribute to Phillip Hughes by reprinting the report of the elite in 1996, the semi-final thriller between South his twin Test hundreds at Durban six years ago – a match Africa and Australia at Edgbaston in 1999, Dwayne in which short-pitched fast bowling was to the fore. Leverock’s earth-shaking catch in 2007 (in my mind he is perpetually defying gravity), the coronation of Benj Moorehead Eagar’s Eye p23 Patrick Eagar, the doyen of cricket photographers, has covered nine of the ten World Cups since 1975. In that time he has seen some strange things – bizarre dismissals, shock defeats, even a war over stumps. Across these pages Patrick delves into his World Cup collection to find 10 events that took him by surprise. © John Wisden & Company Limited 2014 Wisden is a trademark of John Wisden & Company Limited WisdenEXTRA • World Cup Special 1 The Big Hit The first week of June 1975 in England was a very its appeal throughout even for spectators whose team strange one indeed. On the Monday, June 2, cricket invariably goes out early (England) or never even gets Matthew Engel wonders what happened to the tournament WORLD was snowed off at Buxton and a few desultory flakes a sniff of the finals (India). The whole planet holds its that had him entranced when it began some 40 years ago CUP were also spotted at Lord’s – as well as outside my breath. bedroom window in Northamptonshire. This seemed Cricket’s World Cup now has 40 years worth of like the continuation of a run of dismal summers, and I history. Has it spread the game of cricket? No. Despite remember feeling awfully depressed about the then not mass migration from the subcontinent across the globe, unfashionable notion of global cooling. the geography of cricket in terms of competitive power On the Tuesday play resumed at Buxton: Derbyshire has budged hardly at all, except in the strange and were bowled out for 42 and 87 on the snow-affected special case of Afghanistan. wicket to give Lancashire victory by a trifling innings Has the World Cup showcased the sport and and 348. By the Thursday the weather was starting to enthused new generations? Not much. Is it the perk up and the British electorate, in a mood of sunny undisputed pinnacle of the sport? Certainly not. contentment, voted by a 2–1 margin to stay inside what Has it constructed a treasure-house of unforgettable was then called the Common Market, and is now the moments? Well, yes, but the contents are a bit of a European Union. mish-mash and not all of them are worth treasuring. On the Saturday cricket’s newest tournament began There have been 352 World Cup ties played so far; at four English Test grounds simultaneously, the game’s the return on capital from this memory-bank, I relationship with the still black-and-white medium would suggest, has not been great. of television still being unsophisticated. This was the The first problem is that, quite obviously, top- World Cup or, as the authorities preferred to call it, the level cricket is not a global game. Actually, this is even Prudential Cup; they were already quite with-it about more true of rugby union, let alone rugby league. getting the sponsors’ name up front and centre. But these two are more able to make a big deal The opening match at Lord’s did not even attract of their quadrennial highlight, because they have a full house, and after England delighted the crowd nothing else like it. with a massive score, 334 for four, India’s captain Sunil In cricket there is a World Cup, or something very Gavaskar bizarrely chose to opt for exaggerated bloody- like it, along every minute. There is the Champions minded batting practice, scoring 36 out of 132 for three Trophy and the Twenty20 World Cup and various in 60 overs. mini-World Cups... and we have only just escaped But by the time the competition ended just two the loopy idea of a Test match semi-final and final. weeks later it was an unmitigated triumph. The first Modern cricket is mainly designed to provide cheap World Cup final, West Indies v Australia, was both the product for minority TV stations which involves longest day of the year and the longest day international endless reiteration; this is not compatible with cricket had ever known. It began with Roy Fredericks world-stopping drama. hooking Dennis Lillee into kingdom come, but falling Furthermore, cricket is no longer one game but on his stumps as he did so. It ended nine and three- three, and they are becoming increasingly estranged quarter hours later after an unforgettable contest, from each other. I would guess only a minority now with Clive Lloyd, the man of the match, lifting the follow all three with enthusiasm. And some players trophy. The stars and the weather and the players and are finding it hard to excel at everything and have the moment had all aligned and cricket, as sometimes begun specialising. happens, had been touched by magic. Another World And then there is the format of the event itself, Cup? Bring it on! designed to produce maximum content (about a On Valentine’s Day 2015, at the Hagley Oval in third of those 43 days will comprise actual playing Christchurch, cricket’s 11th World Cup begins. There time) not maximum excitement. There are eight The magic of will be huge local enthusiasm: the tournament has not teams out of 14 that matter in the World Cup. In been to the Antipodes for nearly a quarter of a century; the betting odds, it’s 250 to 1 against the ninth, the New Zealand team is on a roll; and the populace Bangladesh, and 1000 to 1 anyone else. The whole of has no English-style reservations about its preference the first month will be spent whittling down the 14 the cup for one-day cricket. It will finish in Melbourne, not 14 to guess how many? Eight. days later, like the first one, but 43 days later. The 2014 Logically, this is an even worse system than the football World Cup in Brazil lasted 31 days. Super Eight method dumped after the dreadful 2007 For any sporting administrator, this is the template. tournament in West Indies. In 2011 England lost to both Football’s ruling body FIFA is a disgrace, yet it runs Bangladesh and Ireland but were still the only one of a tournament that cannot fail, whether it is staged in the three to qualify for the quarter-finals.