HARARE, 19 February 2003 — The England-Zimbabwe game and all that went on around it should be dead and buried by the English side as soon as possible if they want to make any impact in the tournament. Those in the ICC and ECB who were involved in the decision-making will have to rest with their conscience and morals, while the players will have to dig deep and look to win as many games as possible. The way the authorities on both sides handled the case was disastrous, and it’s sad that it is Nasser Hussain and his men who have to suffer the consequences of actions they had no control over. Hussain has gone on record saying that he might quit captaincy after this tournament, but that will have to be put in the back-burner right now. His own future will be a question he will have to answer later, but at present the team must look to regroup fast. Nasser’s captaincy after the World Cup has been under a cloud for some time now, and this episode only added to the doubts that already exist in his mind.
It is a good thing that England had two of their less important games immediately after the fracas. This will help them collect eight points, and go into their big games with some confidence.
The group is still very open, with only Australia being the shining star that is way above the rest. The big games in this group will both now involve England. The Cape Town game versus Pakistan and the Durban game under lights against India will more or less decide which teams will accompany Australia into the Super Six.
Even though they have gained four points from England’s forfeiture, I don’t think Zimbabwe have it in them to make it to the next stage. They too have been badly affected by the political upheavals surrounding the sport, as well as the fact that many players are focused on the situation in the country rather than the game. This is understandable, but makes the team distracted. The only way Zimbabwe can go further is if Australia too back out of their game in Bulawayo. That is unlikely at this stage, but things can change rapidly.
While Australia have been playing outstanding cricket, I did not expect India to capitulate so meekly last Saturday. The newspapers in South Africa are full of reports from India that the public are resolving to shun products endorsed by the cricketers. Serious stuff like that can only be answered by the cricketers putting in an improved performance in the rest of their games. The Indians should not panic at this stage, and should avoid reshuffling the batting order too much. Instead, they should stick to combinations that have worked for them over many seasons. Ganguly must stay at the top of the order if only to the left-right combination. Either Sachin Tendulkar or Virender Sehwag can open with the other player coming at three. There is not much difference between opening and coming one down, and it’s their inability to score runs rather than where they bat that is the major issue for the big guns in the Indian batting line-up. The team should now just target at batting 50 overs. Once they prove that they can do that, confidence and self-belief will return. (Gameplan)
