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ICC Champions Trophy Preview (by Ayaz Farooqi)
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#1
25th September 2006, 20:38
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ICC Champions Trophy Preview (by Ayaz Farooqi)
The fifth edition of the ICC Champions Trophy is set to commence from October 7 at four venues of India with eight leading sides – including two qualifiers – of the world competing for the top honours. The format of this year’s tournament has been radically changed from the last four editions. The top six teams in the ICC ODI rankings are automatically eligible to play the main round while the remaining four full ICC members will vie for the remaining two spots in a qualifying round to be played from October 7 to 14. Interestingly the West Indies, who are the defending champions, will be going through the hassles of the preliminary round along with Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh to ensure its presence in the main round after failing to finish among the top six.
The eight teams have been divided into two groups; Pool ‘A’ comprises world champions Australia, England, hosts India and a qualifier team and Pool ‘B’ includes Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand and the second qualifier. Two teams from each pool with maximum points will then compete for a place in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy which will be played on November 5 at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. With the World Cup, decidedly the more prestigious and sought after competition than this biennial event, just six months away most of the teams may use this year’s ICC Champions Trophy to experiment with different combinations in order to forge the best possible outfit for the World Cup as well as to judge the relative strengths and weaknesses of the participating teams. One-day cricket has always been a lottery as any team that plays well on a given day can emerge the victor and lately teams have markedly improved their level of performances to match the exploits of the marauding Aussies. Thus it’s an increasingly hazardous proposition to predict the winner, though despite closing of the gap Australia still remains the most balanced, organised and potent team. The only factor which can go against the world champions is their lack of match practice since Australia has played barely any cricket during the previous six months; on the contrary the rest can help reenergise the batteries and who knows the Aussies maybe the most prepared of all the outfits. The only international cricket Australia has played since April this year is the tri-nation DFI Cup in Malaysia. Astonishingly despite being the No. 1 team since winning the 1999 World Cup, Australia has never won the ICC Champions Trophy. Wicket-keeper and vice-captain Adam Gilchrist will be back for the tournament after being rested by the selectors for the Malaysia tourney and in all probability he will open with Simon Katich. Led by Ricky Ponting, the middle order is as intimidating and dependable as it can get. Michael Clarke potentially is one of the most talented of the youngsters presently playing international cricket and the Australia’s batting future may just revolve around him. Damien Martyn has had a rough last one year or so and since making his comeback to international cricket, he certainly has not been at his most sublime best but with loads of experience to bank on, in all likelihood this tournament may revive his dwindling fortune. Allrounder Andrew Symonds is unarguably one of the most destructive batsmen presently on the international circuit and on his day he can tore any attack apart; his 127-balls knock that yielded 156 runs against New Zealand in Wellington last year is an ample testimony of the damage he can do to the opponents. Michael Hussey has made a belated entry into international cricket but still in the short span of time, due to his ability to manoeuvre the strike and add some quick vital runs in the death overs, has made himself the most ideal substitute for Michael Bevan, who though incidentally even now harbours hopes of making it to the World Cup next year. Hussey’s maiden fighting unbeaten century against the West Indies in Malaysia, when he also deputised for Ponting, has provided Australia with a viable option in case of an unlikely eventuality of Ponting’s absence. A menacing and effective pace attack has traditionally been the forte of every Australian side from 1970s onwards and the squad announced for the Champions Trophy is no different, in fact further strengthened by the return of Glenn McGrath. Pacers Bret Lee and Stuart Clarke are admirable foil for the tenacity and guile of someone who has been the spearhead of Aussie pace attack for over a decade now. Left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson is the latest addition in this assembly line of match-winning fast bowlers. Johnson returned with career-best figures of 4-11 to submerge the strong batting powerhouse of India in a DFI Cup tie and Indians should thank the vagaries of weather for their great escape. Despite this agonising outcome of the game for Australia, the match heralded the arrival of another Aussie quickie in international cricket in no uncertain terms. India has always been a formidable unit in familiar home conditions and the return of master batsman Sachin Tendulkar and that too with a bang is heartening for the Indian fans. However the experiment of skipper Rahul Dravid sharing the opening spot with Tendulkar has not been as effective as the Indian team management woud have hoped for. India would be better off if it reverts to the old formula of the Tendulkar-Sehwag opening pair. Many an innings, both in Tests and ODIs, have been built around Dravid and it would benefit India if he returns to his customary one-down batting spot. The experienced Mohammad Kaif and the left-handed Yuvraj Singh provide the required stability to the middle order and the young Suresh Raina has adjusted remarkably well to the pressures and demands of one-day cricket. Wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and seamers Irfan Pathan provide India with the enviable option to float them in the batting as the match situation demands. Left-arm fast bowler Irfan Pathan has failed to develop as his initial promise and exploits suggested and with Zaheer Khan still out of favour with the selectors; Indian pace attack has a pedestrian look about it. Thus off-spinner Harbhajan Singh may have a huge role to play in the championship for India. Under conducive playing conditions, which he is likely to get, Harbhajan can be a difficult customer with the proven record to run through the best of the batting line-ups. No matter how much talented he is, Harbhajan would need support from the other end and it may come from the tried and tested Ajit Agarkar, perhaps the most hardworking of India’s current crop of pacers. Despite its back-to-back successes against Pakistan in the recent ODI series, achieved more because Pakistan let down its guard, England remains an ordinary one-day outfit. The return of Andrew Flintoff, who has regained his mantle of captaincy, may add certain spice to the squad but how much difference he makes towards the overall performance of the team, remains a matter of conjecture. England will sorely miss the absence of Marcus Trescothick, though he was woefully out of sorts almost throughout the entire English summer. It will be an opportunity for the youngster Christopher Joyce to cement his place in the team. Barring Steve Harmison and out-of-practice Flintoff, the bowling resources appear thin for the generally flat Indian pitches, and England will largely depend on its solid batting line-up comprising Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Flintoff himself to make headway in the tournament. On paper at least, Pakistan squad has a real formidable and in Shoaib Akhtar’s words ‘lethal’ look about and if it plays true to its potential, and that’s a massive if, Pakistan can be labelled as the joint favourites along with Australia, not only for this ICC Champions Trophy but also for the forthcoming World Cup. The middle-orders boosts such brilliant talents as Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan, and this embarrassment of riches is further reinforced by world-class allrounders like Shahid Afridi, Abdur Razzaq, Shoaib Malik and even Kamran Akmal. Both Afridi and Abdur Razzaq should relish the playing conditions in India and if they manage to survive till the last 10 overs, then one can only pity for the hapless opposition. The pace quartet of Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Umar Gul can easily be compared with the intimidating pace attack of Australia but these bowlers have this alarming tendency to lose focus and momentum, as was witnessed during the ODIs against England, and this can prove fatal in the ultimate analysis. The obvious and much-publicised flaw in the squad is the lack of a pair of reliable openers. Wasim Bari, the chief selectors has already voiced his opinion that Imran Farhat and Mohammad Hafeez will be persisted for this tournament and this should give the batsmen the comfort and confidence to raise their hands and be counted. Stephen Fleming led New Zealand has in its fold several excellent cricketers like Fleming himself, Nathan Astle, Scot Styris, Shane Bond, Jacob Oram and Daniel Vettori but its prospects of gaining any worthwhile results are rather slim. South African batsmen have twice posted scores of 400 plus in ODIs during the last seven months, a feat achieved just thrice in the history of one-day internationals, and one of them was against Australia. This speaks a lot about the ability of the current South African squad and it will be a folly to discount the team from the African continent from the list of title contenders. Jacques Kallis recently became only the second allrounder to reach the double of 8000 runs and 200 scalps and Herschelle Gibbs is a potential match-winner. He demonstrated his proves during his incredible innings of 175 balls which came off just 111 deliveries when South Africa achieved the unthinkable of overhauling Australia gigantic looking total of 434 runs. Shaun Pollock may have lost some his bite and pace of the heydays but still has the perfect capability to trouble the best in the business. With almost 350 ODI wickets in his bag, Pollock still spearheads South Africa bowling attack and he has an effective and excellent support staff Makhaya Ntini and Andre Nel. Middle-order batsman Justin Kemp is another exciting but still somewhat raw talent and he maybe more than handful on the batting-friendly wickets in India. With due respect to Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, both Sri Lanka and the West Indies should qualify for the main round hands down. Sri Lanka especially has been in terrific form recently and its re-emergence as world-class side was reflected in the 5-0 drubbing of England in England. Marvan Atapattu returns after remaining in international wilderness for a considerably long span though Mahela Jayawardene has been retained as the skipper. The duo forms part of an awe-inspiring batting line-up which also includes Sanath Jayasuriya, wicket-keeper Kumara Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan. In veterans Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas have couple of wicket-taking bowlers with the knack to win games on their own. Their cumulative wickets tally of 770 in ODIs is indicative of the harm they can cause to the opposing batting line-ups. Like most of the current teams, the West Indies – once known as the home of fast bowlers – is exceptionally strong in the batting department but severely depleted in the bowling resources. The batsmen have the class and substance to withstand any sort of challenge thrown at them though at the same time perilously suspect of crumbling like a pack of cards like they did against India while chasing a meagre total of 162 runs in Malaysia. When on song, Brian Lara can single-handedly take the game away from his opponents. Left-handers Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and Ramnaresh Sarwan are proven performers on the international circuit but they have this ungainly and frustrating tendency to gift their wickets away in the face of adversity. If the batsmen can display the guts to stay at the wicket and play anywhere near their potential, the West Indies can also stake a claim to the title and repeat the shock they caused in the previous edition of the competition held in England in 2002. 
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#2
26th September 2006, 06:07
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Excellent overview - would be great to hear comments on this from some of our English, Indian and Australian members.
As a Pak supporter: Quote:
This will/should be the tournament where Afridi can forget his English tour and re-establish himself as the destructive player that he CAN be. As for Rana - I just hope England was a bad dream !
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#3
26th September 2006, 11:05
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Quote:
seriously Rana has to do something special espically with Rao and Gul waiting in the wings and PPs favorite yasir Arafat not too far behind. Good article though Last edited by abdul9383 : 26th September 2006 at 11:14.
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#4
26th September 2006, 11:13
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Imran Farhat and Mohammad Hafeez opening?
That means Malik is out of the team currently
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#5
26th September 2006, 16:53
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England's ICCCT will centre around the bowling performances of Yardy, Dalrymple and Lewis as the likes of Harmison, Flintoff and Anderson will still be feeling their way back from injuries. The batting should be fine without being outstanding and I hope to see Bell and Joyce continuing their ODI development. Strauss should also look to continue batting in the slightly more agressive style he showcased against Pakistan.
Frankly I'm not too fussed as long as no one gets injured and some half decent cricket is played. Quote:
Edmund Joyce. He's 28 as well.
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#6
26th September 2006, 18:53
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Quote:
M Sami shoudl be ahead of Y Arafat
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#9
27th September 2006, 14:52
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Very good read, I particularly loved this:
Quote:
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