Sidelights

Snippets from the middle and beyond

South Africa's preparations for the World Cup started on a bad note when they lost to the Western Province side here in their first warm-up game.

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The Proteas are scheduled to face West Indies in their opening match on Sunday.

It was a wry irony for Western Province's Graeme Smith, who was playing against the team he had narrowly missed out making to. Even the national
selectors described Smith as being the unluckiest player around.

Minnows Canada suffered a nine-wicket defeat against the provincial side Easterns in a warm-up game Friday at Benoni. Canadian skipper Joseph Harris was the only one who put up some resistance scoring 38 of 81 balls.

A party for the South African cricket squad hosted by Cape Town Mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo had to be moved to another venue after finicky residents of the upmarket suburb of Constantia no balled it.

To comply with residents' objections to possible noise pollution, Mfeketo moved the party with live music to Kirstenbosch, another suburb.

New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns will utilise the week left before his side's opening match in the World Cup to regain fitness.

Cairns' is recovering from two knee operations, a kidney operation and a rib cartilage injury, which have hampered with preparations for the tournament.

Australian batsman Darren Lehmann, who will miss his side's first game against Pakistan in Johannesburg February 11, said he wants to start afresh with this tournament.

Lehmann was slapped a five-match suspension by the ICC last month after found guilty of making racist remarks against the Sri Lankans.

The Pakistani team arranged a surprise birthday party for quadruplets born to a family in Soweto, after they learnt that their mother could not afford the revelries.

Although the players could not make it themselves, they sent a huge birthday cake, a miniature bat signed by the entire team, and 2,000 rands to the infants - Jabu, Jabulile, Sipho and Simphiwe.

Team manager Shaharyar Khan and Pakistan High Commissioner Shaheen Gilani handed the gifts to Lindi Mdluli, mother of the two boys and two girls.

Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak is confident that his side has an opportunity to win the World Cup, even though they are placed in what is being called the group of death.

They face the likes of Australia, Pakistan, India and England in the first round itself. Streak was confident his team would perform well as they had defeated both India and South Africa in the last World Cup in England.

Small adjustments to the bowling techniques of Makhaya Ntini and Jacques Kallis could be one of the secrets to help South Africa become the first host side to lift the World Cup.

Assistant coach Corrie van Zyl said Kallis and Ntini had already shown results from the changed technique, which he claimed to be minor ones because at this late stage no major changes could even be considered.

Kenyan captain Steve Tikolo said it was a huge disappointment for people at home to learn that New Zealand had decided to forfeit its game in Kenya even after the ICC said it was safe to play there.

The kiwis were scheduled to take on the Kenyans on February 21. World Cup executive director Ali Bacher tried to cheer up the Kenyan side by emphasizing the fact that they had already earned four points without a ball being bowled.

The eternally optimistic Bacher said despite the cancelled game, this year's World Cup would still be the biggest ever, with 53 games, as opposed to the 42 matches in England in 1999.

Non-cricket events are "distractions".

South African national squad coach Eric Simons said in the wake of a shock defeat at the hands of Western Province in a warm-up match that he could do without the "distractions" that come up in the guise of civic duties and development clinics so that his boys could concentrate only on the game.

But Simons conceded that the off-field activities were essential parts of the World Cup as the organisers tried to take the game to previously disadvantaged communities in the country through visits to schools and other social events where the players put in appearances.

He said all the teams had to do this and the South Africans were in fact at a slight advantage in that they would already be in Cape Town before the first match on Sunday when they meet the West Indies.

Other teams, based in cities across South Africa, would still have to fly to Cape Town for the event after finishing their other duties.

Cricket a minor sport in Holland

Holland is much better known in international sporting circles for its football players like Ruud Gullit and Dennis Bergkamp.

So it comes as no surprise to hear from the country's cricket captain that you cannot compare spectator interest there to the fanaticism of cricket in India and other countries.

Only about 5,000 people play cricket in Holland and that too mainly in spare time. There is no professional cricket there at all.

Holland captain Roland Lefebvre said the minnows in world cricket had only one wish for the World Cup - to win at least two games.

They have set their targets on Namibia, another minnow, and Zimbabwe, almost conceding that they have no chance against Australia, Pakistan, India and
England in the same group.

Lefebvre, who marks his 40th birthday Friday, just two days before the first World Cup on the African continent starts, said he would retire after the tournament, having spent 20 years in the game.

Cricket will open doors for soccer in Africa

The cricket World Cup, the first in Africa, will pave the way for the continent, and especially South Africa, to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, according to the chief executive of the South African Football Association, Danny Jordaan.

Jordaan, who led the controversial unsuccessful bid to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, said the success of the cricket World Cup would convince football's controlling body FIFA that the country would be able to stage the 2010 tournament.

He said the cricket World Cup would again highlight the infrastructure in terms of facilities, accommodation and communications that gave South Africa an edge over its rivals on the African continent - Nigeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Liberia.

Bans will not deter bookies - Aronstam

Marlon Aronstam, the South African bookie who broke down in tears while testifying during the King Commission of Inquiry into match-fixing two years ago, described as "stupid" the ban on bookmakers entering World Cup game venues.

Aronstam, who testified that he had gifted a leather jacket and 53,000 rands to now deceased South African captain Hansie Cronje as part payment for pitch and weather reports, said any bookie could send other people on to the grounds on their behalf if they wanted to.

The ICC has circulated a list of known bookmakers and other undesirable people who will be barred entry to grounds where World Cup games take place.