Thinking beyond the forthcoming cricket World Cup

Maintaining the top standing in the world of sports is much more difficult than achieving it and a consistently steady approach is the real key to sustained success

By S M Ibrahim Farooqi

Cricket's 2007 World Cup is still far away -- nineteen months and nineteen days to be precise, when Pakistan and the hosts West Indies lock horns at the Sabina Park in Kingston to open the showpiece event, according to the schedule of the World Cup announced very recently.

Time and tide wait for none and though when March 11, 2007 comes for the opening ceremony of the ninth World Cup, many of us may not feel the pace at which the 19 months that will have passed by then, the question is: is winning the World Cup the only criterion of a team's standing in the world among other top competitors?

Firstly, without denying in any way that every cricket captain now, after the announcement of the World Cup itinerary, would most probably be dreaming of becoming the luckiest man on earth by proudly holding the exquisitely priceless trophy at Kensington Oval in Barbados on April 28, 2007, the degree of importance given to the preparations for the cut-throat World Cup contests should wisely be measured by the game's authorities, captain and his players, because too much emphasis on World Cup not only disturbs a team's usual assignments (that are sometimes highly important) but also causes visible decline in players' performance in the international games which they play other than the World Cup fixtures.

And secondly, while accepting the simple fact that there would only be one squad which -- with the help of hard work, dedication and sometimes traces of luck -- will win the World Cup no matter how hard the other teams may try, the group of players that succeeds to clinch the world title is then always expected to carry on the winning streak, clearly signalling the worldly reality that maintaining the top standing in the world of sports is much more difficult than achieving it; and therefore consistently steady approach towards the game is the real key to sustained rate of success.

And lastly, from cricket's tradition point of view it should also be noted that a World Cup victory only indicates the winning country's superiority in the game's shorter version, and without rejecting the thrill and enjoyment generated by limited overs cricket, one cannot forget that shows at five-day Test matches are still regarded by experts as the basic tool to judge the scale of a team's prowess at the highest international level.

The West Indies team, during the 1970s and 1980s, were rated as the very best in the world because players like Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Malcolm Marshall, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Michael Holding, Courtney Walsh, Geoffrey Dujon and others not only helped their team grab the World Cup in 1975 and 1979 but also kept Caribbean cricket on top by crushing their opponents on many other big occasions.

And perhaps the reason West Indies cricket remained on the top for decades -- while remaining unbeaten at home in Test rubbers from 1973 to 1995 -- is because their players would perform on the field in almost all the contests with an equal degree of enthusiasm and natural willingness; and to recognise one can easily recall how sharp -- and sometimes extraordinary -- the West Indian fielding was during the golden era of 1970s and 1980s, how natural guts and classy love for the game made the Caribbean batsmen and bowlers just overpower their opposition.

And when there is mentioning of the naturally classy West Indies batting, who can forget the booming knock of 189 not out played by a uniquely gifted Viv Richards against England in the 1984 one-dayer at Old Trafford, Manchester. With the Windies almost down and out at 166-9, Richards, with a calm Michael Holding at the other end, just blasted the English bowlers all around the park, only to take his team to a stunning 272-9, while hitting a mind-boggling 21 fours and four sixes during his world-record innings.

Now the same has been the case with Australian cricket since around the mid 1990s till to date. Since overcoming the West Indies at their grounds in the 1994-95 Test rubber (2-1) under a rock-solid Steve Waugh, Australian cricket entered a new era, only to accumulate victory after victory against all the top-tier opponents at their backyard -- both in Tests and One-day Internationals -- on an exceedingly regular basis under different sets of conditions. Besides retaining the all-important Ashes trophy since 1989 -- much before downing the West Indies (in 1994-95) -- until now, the Aussies have overcome India, Pakistan and South Africa (twice) at their grounds in Test rubbers. And these Test series wins are beside several top victories the Australians have registered in the one-day arena for the last ten years or so.

And quite interestingly, unlike the West Indies, who had already established their superiority in the world of cricket before winning the 1975 and 1979 World Cups, the Australians crowned themselves as the world champions after a while -- in 1999 at Lord's. But by that time the Aussies had proved themselves as the most reliable outfit, who, under Steve Waugh, had bagged seven consecutive one-day wins to claim the coveted trophy against Pakistan in the 1999 final.

And then with a reliably concrete domestic cricket structure along with some resolute group of players like Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Matthew Hayden, Brett Lee, Adam Gilchrist, Justin Langer, Michael Bevan, Jason Gillespie, Stuart MacGill, Michael Kasprowicz with the veteran Waugh twins and others, Australia continued their run of victories bagging several titles, while winning a world-record 16 Test matches consecutively from 1999-00 to 2000-01 and then also clinching a record 21 one-day victories -- from January 11, 2003 to May 24, 2003 -- including a resounding 125-run 2003 World Cup final win against India at the Wanderers, Johannesburg.

If the West Indies of the 1970s and the present Australian side remained very much consistent -- or true to say excellently on top -- after winning their respective world titles, Pakistan, after claiming the 1992 World Cup crystal trophy under Imran Khan at the MCG, couldn't maintain the consistency that is rightly anticipated from a world champion side.

After overwhelming a strong England team at their grounds in the 1992 Test series (2-1) under Javed Miandad, perhaps many factors were responsible that derailed Pakistan cricket -- a fact that resulted in the world champions bundling out for one-day totals of 71, 81 and even 43 (the lowest ever one-day total of that time) within about one year!

Internal rifts among team members and their disciplinary problems, quick changes in the captaincy, ad-hoc appointments of the officials in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), lifeless cricket pitches made at home and highly swift chopping and changing in the playing eleven besides wrong team selection on some occasions were more than enough to mar Pakistan cricket on and off the field.

The Test defeat the world champions suffered at the hands of minnows Zimbabwe by an innings and 64 runs at Harare (1994-95) was a huge alarm for the authorities concerned besides the players themselves.

Though Pakistan between the World Cups of 1992 and 1996 did earn some fantastic victories, including the Austral-Asia Cup 1994 and home Test series win over the Australians (1-0, 1994-95) apart from the high-profile England Test series (2-1), but the overall showing of the Green Blazers was indeed not encouraging and lacked the vital ingredient of consistency.

And when the 1996 World Cup was staged, this inconsistency flaw was fully exposed, when Pakistan, after getting a flying start from the Saeed Anwar-Aamer Sohail opening pair in the quarter-final against India at a roaring Bangalore stadium, failed to capitalise, eventually losing the crucial match by 39 runs.

And even more painful was the case in the 1999 World Cup final against a relatively much more compact Australian side, where the Wasim Akram-led Pakistan -- playing full-strength -- could just post 132, only to lose the match by eight wickets, and pouring loads of despair into their fans' minds. A graceful loss wouldn't have been that much agonising for the Pakistanis but 132 in the World Cup final at the cricket headquarters much to lose heart.

As a general experience it can frequently be heard and seen rational people talking about the Australian and West Indian World Cup victories with more praise and appreciation; the reason? Just because those teams achieved the top status and maintained it with equal degree of concentration and professionalism over a considerable time period.

Therefore, Pakistan, now after having made visible improvements since making a successful tour of India (2005) under a solid Inzamam-ul-Haq, should start thinking beyond just grabbing the World Cup 2007; and when Inzamam and company will begin observing the proceedings 'with a wider view', the Green Blazers will automatically set their eyes on the 2007 crown.

S M Ibrahim Farooqi is a staff member. His e-mail address: pakshaheen65@yahoo.co.uk