The Hindu : Namibia should be a cakewalk for England

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 19, 2003

Sport

Sport - World Cup

Namibia should be a cakewalk for England

PORT ELIZABETH Feb. 18. All England knows about the Namibian team is that a Scotsman is the coach.

But Namibia is unlikely to produce any surprises or unleash any secret weapons when the two teams meet on Wednesday in a Group A match of the World Cup, which will be a mere formality loss for Namibia and an opportunity to chalk up four more crucial points for England.

It shouldn't be difficult. England has found a new weapon in young pace bowler James Anderson who took four for 25 in a six-wicket victory against the Netherlands on Sunday. Having forfeited four points to Zimbabwe after refusing to go to Harare, the victory gave England its first points on the board.

England must also have been pleased by the form shown by opener Nick Knight and No. 3 Michael Vaughan, who both scored 51 each in helping reach the modest target of 143.

Asked if he knows much about England's latest opponent, Vaughan said: ``Only that Dougie Brown is their coach. That's all I know.''

Warwickshire all-rounder Brown, 33, almost made it to the England team before the 1999 World cup, but was dropped after nine one-day internationals that began during the Sharjah Cup win the previous winter.

He was hired as coach of minnow Namibia on the recommendation of Bob Woolmer, his former county coach and the International Cricket Council high performance director.

But Vaughan said England won't be taking Namibia too lightly.

``I have seen them a bit on television so I do know a little bit about them. But it's a new game for us. Obviously it is a new team so we will have to be on our game.''

He said the ``concentration levels we have shown from ball one have been fantastic in our team.'' Even if you are playing a lesser team, ``your attitude has to be spot on,'' he added.

After the Namibia match, it's an uphill task for England as it will have to play Pakistan, Australia and India.

Australia is almost certain to make it to the Super Six stage, where only the top three teams from each of the two groups will progress.

While the earlier thinking was that the five main competitors for the three Super Six slots would be Australia, England, Pakistan and India, the field has now widened to include Zimbabwe after England gifted it four points.

Zimbabwe also beat Namibia and now plays India, which is in dismal form, having shown its vulnerability to pace bowling during its humiliating nine-wicket loss to Australia. The Zimbabwean pitches can be equally bouncy as the South African tracks, and India has as much chance of losing as winning.

If Zimbabwe wins, it would have amassed 12 points from three outings, and would most likely make it to the Super Six stage.

That would leave England battling it with India and Pakistan for the last Super Six slot - quite a tough call as far as England is concerned.

That's why captian Nasser Hussain cautioned that England would have to win every match from now on if it wants to progress on its own steam and not depend on other teams losing.

``We just have to try and win every game. Even if we carry on through we would have to beat one of the major sides anyway. Even if we had gone to Zimbabwe and won we would have had to beat a major side,'' Hussain said.

The teams (from): England: Nasser Hussain (captain), James Anderson, Ian Blackwell, Andrew Caddick, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles, Stephen Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Ronnie Irani, Nick Knight, Alec Stewart, Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Craig White.

Namibia: Deon Kotze (captain), Jan Burger, Louis Burger, Sarel Burger, Morne Karg, Daniel Keulder, Bjorn Kotze, Lennie Louw, Bryan Murgatroyd, Gerrie Snyman, Stefan Swanepoel, Burton van Rooi, Melt van Schoor, Rudi van Vuuren, Riaan Walters.

Umpires: S. Venkataraghavan (Ind) and Simon Taufel (Aus). TV umpire: Nadeem Ghauri (Pak). Match referee: Mike Procter (RSA). Hours of play (IST): 1.30 p.m to 5.00 p.m. and 5.45 p.m. onwards.

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