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One of the shrewdest observers of cricket and cricketers is venturing only a few guarded comments about the seventh World Cup that starts its run of six weeks and 42 matches this morning at Lord's.

Malcolm Marshall agreed yesterday that South Africa's status as favourites was justified, but he believes ``anything can happen'' at a traditionally wet time of the year under the complicated new Duckworth/Lewis system that determines rain-affected matches.

And, perhaps remembering forgettable happenings in the previous tournament in India in 1996, he cautioned that first-timers Bangladesh and Scotland ``cannot be underestimated''.

The West Indies coach won't indulge in any unrealistic boasting over his team's chances, simply noting that they can reach the semifinals if they play consistent cricket all the way through, after which ``it's simply who's better on the day''.

The closest he came to making a prediction was in his tip that Ricardo Powell, the newest cricketer under his charge, ``could be one of the stars of the tournament, if not overall, then certainly for us''.

``If you look at our record in One-Day cricket, you'll find that we've only really had one bad patch in the last few years and that was in South Africa,'' Marshall said as the team settled back into their headquarters in Bristol.

They open their campaign against Pakistan at the Gloucestershire county ground on Sunday.

``We got to the finals of multi-team tournaments in Australia, Sharjah and Bangladesh and I think you've got to go back to 1991 to find when we've lost a One-Day series at home,'' Marshall said.

But what about South Africa, where the West Indies were thrashed 6-1 following the 5-0 loss in the Test series?

``Okay, that stands out, and we know there were other factors that contributed to it,'' he responded. ``Apart from everything else, South Africa are a very good side.

``But that's behind us now,'' he added. ``We put that behind us with the way we played at home against Australia, in both the Tests and the Internationals.

``But for the crowd troubles in Guyana, we would have won that One-Day series 4-3 and that says something against a team with probably the most consistent record in the past few years.''

Marshall said the comeback after the debacle in South Africa had given the team confidence and brought the players closer together.

``Everyone has worked hard, on their batting and fielding especially, everyone is very committed and we're living together like a family,'' he said. ``That means a lot in team sport.

``I can sense how much all the players want to do well here.''

He listed several points that contributed to the performance in the limited-overs series against the Australians in which key men like captain Brian Lara, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh hardly played a part.

``Jimmy (Adams) handled the team very well. Merv (Dillon) came back after he was left out after the first Test and bowled well.

``Simmo (Phil Simmons) did everything you could ask as an all-rounder. Sherwin (Campbell) showed he can bat for both types of the game, and when we put Ridley (Jacobs) to open he never stopped making runs,'' Marshall said.

``Everything we tried work'' he added. ``We've come here with a settled team.''

A lot had been made of the scheduling of the tournament to start in late spring and the weather leading up to the opener has emphasised the point.

Few matches have escaped the rain or the Duckworth/Lewis calculations that require a university degree in advanced mathematics to understand.

It seems to be generally accepted that it is the most equitable system for arriving at a result once the team batting first have had their pre-planned tactics upset by a break for rain.

But it does lead to the incongruity of one team having to score appreciably more than the other off the same number of overs to win.

In their last preparation match against Surrey at the Oval on Wednesday, for instance, the West Indies' total of 224 for six off 40 overs was interrupted after 30 overs and duly reduced. Surrey were then set 258 to win off the same 40 overs.

``If the weather continues as it it, that Duckworth/Lewis is going to decide a lot of results,'' Marshall said.

``Anything can happen, but I would think it favours the team batting first since the team batting second can find themselves chasing a big target. What it means, as a general rule, you bat on winning the toss.''

But he stressed that he wasn't bothered by the rule or by the conditions.

``You start the tournament knowing what things are going to be like and you just aim to play to the best of your ability every time,'' he said.

``With all the rain around, I would expect the pitches to continue to be slow but everyone's got to play on them.''

The West Indies' group consists of Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand and the two newcomers, the ICC associate teams Bangladesh and Scotland.

The other group contains the other five Test teams England, India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe along with Kenya, who stunned the Windies in 1996.