Members of the 14 teams competing in the 2003 cricket World Cup pose during an official photo session aboard a navy ship in Cape Town yesterday. The opening ceremony for the 2003 cricket World Cup will commence tonight, with the first match starting tomorrow. - ReutersJOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP):
WHILE SOUTH Africa are under huge pressure from a demanding public to win their opening World Cup game against the West Indies today, England are agonising whether they should play their first match at all.
The England side will decide today whether to forfeit the game against Zimbabwe -- because of security concerns -- and start the tournament at least four points behind.
South Africa, despite an embarrassing defeat to Western Province in a warm-up match, will try to become the first host nation to win the title, which they have never won before. First they will have to defeat the West Indies, winners of the first two World Cups in 1975 and '79 in the great days of Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd.
"I have been lying awake a little but I have really no problems sleeping," South African captain Shaun Pollock said yesterday.
"I will go to bed tonight with my full focus on the West Indies and I am confident in what we have done in preparations," he told a news conference in Cape Town.
He said he is confident the bowlers will find line and length quickly despite having to bowl to four left handers in the West Indies side.
The bookies have given the hosts 1/3 odds to win the game, the West Indies are rated 5/2.
Whatever their chances, the match promises to be a fitting start to the biggest cricketing show on earth. Fourteen teams will play 54 matches over six weeks in an extravaganza that will be watched by a potential television audience of more than 1 billion.
"The sheer flamboyance of the West Indies and the discipline of South Africa make for a mouth watering affair at the picturesque Newlands (stadium)," said The Citizen newspaper yesterday.
The South African team will meet with former President Nelson Mandela this morning before the start of the day-night match.
The West Indies received a boost Friday when the International Cricket Council allowed them to reinstate Marlon Samuels, a 22-year-old Jamaican batting star, to its squad. Samuels was withdrawn from the original team following a knee complaint but was given late clearance to play.
Also returning to the team after a mystery illness is Brian Lara.
In 1996, Lara scored 111 for a match winning effort that secured the West Indies a place in the World Cup semi-finals at South Africa's expense.
However, the talented Trinidadian, who averaged 114.66 Test runs in 2001-2002 against Sri Lanka, can also succumb to the pressure of being the West Indies' saviour and his scores have suffered.
"There is a high air of expectancy in most of the camps, and it is no different with us. The players are ready to rise to the occasion and be at their best," said West Indies manager Ricky Skerritt.
Judging by statistics, South Africa should have it easy.
Of the 26 one-day internationals played between the two teams, South Africa have won 18 whereas West Indies have won 8. The record is even better when South Africa have played at home, winning eight of their 10 matches while the West Indies have never won a day/night game at Newlands.
South Africa have also won the last five games at the Newlands ground and only ever lost twice there, both times to Australia.
The World Cup is an opportunity for some young South Africans to become heroes. One is Boeta Dippenaar, the No. 3 bat who has top scored in two of his last three games and has an impressive average of 89 in Cape Town. He also averages 52 against the West Indies.
The West Indies will expect young openers Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds to consolidate the innings.
Gayle smashed three one-day centuries in three matches against India late last year at a strike rate of 94.98 runs for 100 balls. Hinds was equally devastating with one innings standing out when he made 80 off 61 balls, including five sixes and 10 fours.
But even before the World Cup has begun, politics-spawned controversy has seeped in with England unwilling to play Zimbabwe in Harare, citing security concerns in the wake of anti-white sentiment blamed on President Robert Mugabe's policies.
On Friday, England cancelled their Sunday flight to Harare, where they are scheduled to play Zimbabwe on February 14. The team said it will announce this morning if they will forfeit their match, which would mean a loss of four points.
England's quandary results from a ruling Friday when a South African judge upheld the ICC's decision to reject the English cricket board's appeal to have the match moved to South Africa.
