Sport - Cricket

A wake-up call

The huge upset on Wednesday night was a sharp wake-up call for the Australians, but it must be a great occasion to celebrate for the Zimbabwean team.

For the Australians, it was a reminder that they have to put their World Cup glory behind them, and concentrate on the tournament. I always believe that if a team has to lose in a tournament, it’s better to lose earlier, so I don’t think t he Aussies are out of it just yet. However, their top order needs to fire in the next game if they want to get to the next round.

They still have injury concerns and that would be a worry. The Australians have been slow starters (take their loss to Bangladesh at the start of the 2005 Ashes tour, for example), but they have the ability to turn it on when it matters most, and this is why they have been so consistent in big tournaments. They also have the most number of match winners in their side, and if just one or two of them fire in every game, they will be hard to beat.

All this makes their Friday game against England even more edgy than the usual Australia-England encounter. England have the most experience in this format, and they will be backing themselves. Add to this the fact that they have players like Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff who can turn a game in a few overs.

Many of their youngsters like James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Owais Shah are coming to South Africa after a successful summer, so there will not be any lack of confidence.

In India, however, all eyes will be trained on the India-Pakistan game. Neither side has played much Twenty20, and will be a little uncertain when they take each other on. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s new captain, has a great record against Pakistan, and could be a crucial factor in this game. Now that he has been entrusted with leadership, it will be interesting to see how he shapes up.

Both India and England have been have been playing a lot of cricket. However, I doubt whether the fatigue factor will come in. These are short games that last barely three hours, and can’t be too taxing physically. More importantly, this is the ICC World Twenty20, and the thrill of being involved in a tournament like this is enough to lift the teams. The steady, continuous stream of games they have played recently could in fact ensure that both India and England have an edge over their opponents.

Gameplan

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